


The Daily Lives of Highschool Boys

by Nana_san



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band), TWICE (Band)
Genre: Genderbending, High School, M/M, Other, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:29:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 72
Words: 125,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22512514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nana_san/pseuds/Nana_san
Summary: Jihyo, Nayeon and Jeongyeon love each other, but nobody really believes them. Sana may be gay, but isn’t really sure what people are talking about when they say that. Joohyun is too tiny to be the star footballer, but Dahyun is there to attest for the hard work put into it. Jihyo and Seungwan are definitely NOT dating, Joohyun knows that but still doesn’t move to disprove the rumors, and maybe winning the not so secret pool on the not-couple plays a part in it too. And everyone is just trying to not fail the year and get into a good college.ORThe completely unasked for, totally self-indulgent and entirely pulled out of my b*tt TwiceVelvet genderbender AU. Yes, I’m pulling the ‘they are boys now’ trope, try and stop me.
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Son Seungwan | Wendy, Chou Tzuyu/Yoo Jeongyeon, Im Nayeon/Myoui Mina, Kang Seulgi/Kim Yerim | Yeri, Kim Dahyun/Park Jisoo | Jihyo, Minatozaki Sana/Son Chaeyoung
Comments: 55
Kudos: 74





	1. 1

As always, the science teacher was questioning what made her take this job, she never signed up for this madness and her pay certainly was NOT worth the constant headache she’s been having since these kids came to her in freshman year. Sure, it was just her second year with the trio, but she was about to murder someone already, being the first week of school had nothing to do with anything, stop mentioning it to her.

“Well, if you weren’t an idiot, you would see that you got it wrong by two grams and now the experiment is completely ruined!” Nayeon screamed at Jeongyeon.

“Jihyo was mumbling and I just winged it!” Jeongyeon defended.

“I was not mumbling, you twit-”

“Language.” Ms Lee warned the youngest of the trio.

“Sorry.” Jihyo apologises honestly before going back to the screaming match. “And you better start paying attention, how do you expect we win the competition next week if you can’t hear simple instructions?”

“Then talk properly!”

“You know what, I’m done with you two.” Nayeon declares and fishes out her phone, texting someone quickly and pocketing it again.

“Nayeon, no phones allowed, you know that.” Ms Lee tries to remind her student.

“Don’t worry, Sunmi. I’m just solving this problem.”

“Stop calling me like that, it’s ms Lee.”

Nayeon never had the time to answer, as the door opened revealing three boys looking like they were having the hardest time keeping their serious expressions. Nayeon had texted her group chat with Tzuyu, Mina and Seungwan asking them to come to the chemistry lab and get their mans. Whenever it was nearing a competition, both himself, Jeongyeon and Jihyo would get into very heated arguments and become unhealthy competition driven about anything.

They were just in one of their usual screaming with each other and ms Lee trying to get them to stop when Nayeon decided he had enough and his headache didn’t need to advance more than it already had. He had something beginning with Mina, while Jeongyeon and Tzuyu had been dating for long already, they met during summer vacation while volunteering at the animal shelter a little over a year before. And everybody says Jihyo and Seungwan were dating, despite both denying it, there was even a pool going on about when they would announce their relationship.

Regardless, the science trio never failed to be tamed by the boys that just showed up, and ms Lee kept a mental note to thank Nayeon later for saving the entire chemistry club from another possible acid war. Dark times they all collectively agreed to never mention again, that only showed how brilliant Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo were and how frightening their brains could be when they had the motivation for evil. Everyone breathed a little more freely and sent their silent prayers for their saviours who just arrived.

“Now, what are you three up to again?” Seungwan asked, barely containing his chuckle.

“I’m sorry.” Jihyo apologised instantly, and left everyone wondering how whipped he was and how long were the two still going to deny they are dating. “The experiment went wrong and I got annoyed and screamed. It wasn’t fine and I’m sorry I lost my patience.”

“It’s okay, Hyo. Now, I’m not the one you should ba apologising to.” Seungwan hugs his friend lovingly.

Jihyo turns to the other club members and apologises, before turning to ms Lee and giving the woman a deep bow.

“I’m sorry I called you a t-word.” Jihyo apologises to Jeongyeon. “And I’m sorry I screamed at you both.” He says to his good friends.

The entire class coos at how cute the entire thing was, ms Lee is always endeared by these two boys in particular, she may or may not be on the pool about the couple too. Then Tzuyu steps forward with honey dripping from his eyes at the very cute friends who are now hugging, with Jihyo slightly sobbing. But he knew Jeongyeon wouldn’t be that easy, the guy was stubborn as a mule, especially when he was clearly in the wrong, like right now.

“Jeong.”

“No.” Jeongyeon mumbles, shaking his head.

“Yoo Jeongyeon, you either do the right thing or we are going to have a talk in the blue room.”

“No.” There is a slight fear in Jeongyeon’s voice at the mention of said room.

“You have five seconds.” Tzuyu is relentless.

“No.”

“Three.”

“No.”

“One.”

“Fine!”

“Fine what?” Tzuyu raises one perfectly trimmed brow (seriously, those brows were flawless). It’s always intimidating.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t really paying attention and got the measurements wrong and tried to pretend I wasn’t the one responsible.” Jeongyeon gives in, still trying to not look too pathetic.

Jihyo just whimpers a little and nods, but remains in Seungwan’s hug. Nayeon nods triumphantly and nods enthusiastically. Mina wasn’t about to let him off so easily, though, everyone knows Nayeon was the hardest among the three, the one always too proud to admit when he was wrong, but nine out of ten times was also the one to start whatever fight broke between them. 

“Nayeonnie.” Mina speaks in his calm and velvety voice.

There is a staring contest with an obvious silent conversation happening, it goes on for a few minutes until Nayeon sighs in defeat and Mina smiles lightly. Mina always won these things, nobody knows why Nayeon still tries but that is a couple problem and none is really willing to come between both.

“I’m sorry I started screaming just because the solution went wrong and everything escalated like this.” Nayeon mumbles, and it’s really as good as it’ll get, so nobody complains.

Ms Lee dismisses the three noisy geniuses for the day, claiming she still needed to work with the rest of the club members in their experiment and their notes were already good enough. Both herself and the other students were thankful for the boys that came to rescue them and took the troublemakers away. Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo loved each other, they really did, it’s just that, whenever giants collided it was never a calm affair. Their close friends knew that, but teenage boys were never that worried about these things and the word out was that they just tolerated one another because of the landslide wins on science competitions.

Once they are out and got the books they needed, the boys hug goodbye and go on their way. Nayeon and Mina head to the Myouis’ house, they take turns going to each other places this week was Mina’s. Both have been studying together after school for a few months already, nobody really knows what goes on in all those afternoons together, but nobody is asking either. It’s good that they found each other, really, Mina has a way of calming Nayeon down and looking after him subtly that fit perfectly with how the older one was boisterous and had this ‘I’m older and have to protect the younger’ attitude to him. Nayeon was vain, obnoxious and was convinced he was the hero in every situation, but he cared for Mina, guided the younger through his insecurities and was very attuned to the younger’s needs.

Jeongyeon and Tzuyu head out to the Yoos, Jeongyeon’s sister had gotten a new puppy and Tzuyu was on a mission to make the dog like him more than anyone else in the family. They were and odd couple, they worked but even the two boys didn’t know how. Jeongyeon was loud, annoying and loud, he enjoyed when others got irritated with him and loved pulling pranks, but he also had this thing when he would never let those he cared about be sad, disheartened or keep any negative feelings about themselves, and that was what Tzuyu needed, with his tendency to overthink everything and worry about all the minor details all the time. The younger one, on the other hand, was a bit blunt and couldn’t lie to save his life, he was attentive to everything and everyone, and his stoic face was just him being too lazy to spend energy with unneeded facial expressions. But Tzuyu’s subtle and honest care for those he loved balanced out Jeongyeon’s occasional tactlessness.

Jihyo and Seungwan, in turn, headed out to the football field. Contrary to everyone but sixt people, including themselves, these boys were totally not dating, just really good friends that found emotional support in each other for their sensitive souls. As a matter of fact, Seungwan was dating Joohyun, who found it hilarious that nobody believed his boyfriend was not dating Jihyo. Both got really cute whenever they started venting their frustrations about whomever had popped the question that day, it was normal that someone willing to win the pool on when they’d announce their relationship got desperate and tried to force it out. Joohyun, against all odds, was one of the star players of the football team, the fastest runner the school had seen in years, and a very funny guy, despite his cold looks.

Dahyun, Joohyun’s younger brother, was the one with the hots for Jihyo and wasted no effort to swoon the little alchemist. They were very cute together, with the height of middle schoolers, Dahyun’s questionable fashion sense and the humor of a middle aged man and Jihyo’s neatness, complete obliviousness to most jokes but big heart, the two worked really well together. Truth was, the only ones believing Jihyo and Seungwan were not dating were themselves, the Bae brothers and mama and papa Bae, who, much like the rest of the family, found much amusement in the boys’ frustration about nobody believing them.

The team was still training when the duo got to the field, Seungwan was easily distracted by watching his boyfriend flex those skills out on the field, he loved cocky Joohyun for whatever reason. As expected, Dahyun was already there and waiting for them, the guy was the art club’s ace, having some of his work in a few important galleries already, the club mentor never bothered to tie him down and make him sit in for meeting just because, and ever since the pursuit for Jihyo began, he had been spending time with the boy whenever possible. Also, it was a normal occurrence for the big eyed guy to be asked out of the chemistry club for his “conversations” with Nayeon and Jeongyeon.

“Hey Dubs!” Jihyo greets, spotting the other just as Seungwan left him behind.

“Should I take a guess?” Dahyun teases.

“No need, it’s always the same. But what are you up to?” Jihyo motions to the sketch book in the other’s hands.

“Just killing time and waiting for you.” Those eyebrow wiggles were the corniest thing ever, but Dahyun pulled it off….. Jihyo thought so, leave him alone.

“Well, I’m here now.” Jihyo answers shyly. “Thanks.”

Dahyun laughs freely, and the boys fall into easy conversation, always had. Jihyo is a very shy guy, believe it or not, and Dahyun was just so enamoured he didn’t mind having to keep the conversation going every time. It was nice, both enjoyed each other’s presence a lot, were they dating? No. Were either opposed to it? Absolutely not. They were just taking things slow and enjoying the process, rather then getting into a relationship already and not savoring this dancing around each other. Also, Dahyun was having a lot of fun, just like his brother, watching the entire school betting about Jihyo and Seungwan. The Hyun brothers held the bet for “they are not and will not date”, with a few of their friends who decided to just trust them about it, and wanted the money to accumulate a little more. Dahyun knew that the moment Jihyo said yes, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off.


	2. Chapter 2

Sana was trying to turn down another confession without making the other guy angry. This happened very regularly, with girls too, but they were more understanding and tended to cry rather than punch him. It was hard, but he could always count on Sooyoung to take him to the nurse’s office when he did get his ass kicked. The football captain was great friends with the transferee, having saved the awkward japanese from a serious beating he was about to get from the senior the second day of freshman year.

One thing about Sana, he was a very caring, lovable and expressive young man, his parents were modern hippies and he was raised to be honest and in tune with his feelings. That meant he was really nice, understanding and completely oblivious of how his actions would be interpreted by those on the receiving end of his affections (that was just about everybody, really). Sure, both parents were some kind of computer wizards wanted by all the big corporations, but hippies all the same. And Sana was just great all around, he would always smell grassy, his friends found out that his dad made their own natural herbal soap, and that was where the oddly pleasing smell came from. 

Sooyoung was one of the very few who was never interested in Sana that way, he had an arranged marriage waiting for him to be of age for it to happen, so he never really indulged in any relationships of the romantic nature. He was a very loyal fella, would never hesitate to stand up for what he thought was right and would not compromise his values for anyone, when he saw the frightened and clueless japanese freshman, who barely spoke the language and wasn’t understanding why he was about to get his arm broken he just had to do something. Doing something got him a best friend for life, the best friend who would be his moral support and the first one to follow him without questions in times of need.

The other one who will never hesitate to come to Sooyoung’s aid no matter what was Seulgi, ⅓ of the football stars along with Joohyun and Sooyoung themselves. The three bonded as the only freshmen who got into the team in their year and were bound to suffer together. You know, those who suffer together stay together kind of thing. No? Alright. Yeri, the teachers’ worst nightmare, was Seulgi’s object of affection, who thought he was dating Chaeyoung because the two spent most of their time together. Chaeyoung and Yeri were a case of misunderstood relationship status as well, but in their case Chae’s whore ass showed everyone soon enough they were really just friends, their past relationship had been a good experience but was left behind by both.

Son Chaeyoung was Seungwan’s younger brother, he was a very passionate boy and never shied away from his feelings, meaning, he would dive into things head first and think about it after. That also meant he gave a chance to everyone who approached him, if he was available, that is, cheating was a big no no and he was never one to play with others feelings he just valued them all and wanted to at least give them a chance. If things didn’t work, they didn’t work and that was that. Nobody he ever got with held any kind of ill feelings towards him, they’d always say he was honest and gave things a chance, it was unfortunate that it didn’t work out, but they parted in great terms, most remained friends with him.

“Sacchan, what happened this time?” Sooyoung asks after dragging a very bruised friend to the nurse’s office, again. It was the third time this week.

“I don’t know. I never even met that guy. He just walked up to me and told me to never talk to his girl again.”

“Oh.” The captain isn’t really surprised, just tired. “I’ll call mrs Kim to patch you up, just sit there and wait for me.”

Another common occurrence, Sana is nice to a girl, she falls for him and the boyfriend finds out, gets angry and takes it out on him who doesn’t even understand why he is getting beat. The fact that Sana grew up being taught that when people are violent it’s because they can’t express themselves any other way, so he should try and be understanding in those times. Today, however, Sana is met with a new face as the door opens to a smaller boy, holding his hand in a bloody handkerchief and looking very pale. He is on his feet immediately, helping this bleeding boy to the bed and telling him the nurse is coming.

Chaeyoung didn’t think he would find an angel in the form of a greek god when he went to the nurse’s office, after cutting his hand during the crafts club meeting. This guy helped him to the bed despite being very clearly wounded himself, maybe even more than Chaeyoung, but there was blood and his stomach was turning so give him a break. He was certain this angel was the one he had been looking for, and that was how he decided this man was the man he was going to marry. Dramatic, maybe, but that’s Son Chaeyoung, sentiment driven to a fault and never backed away from feelings, both his and the other party's.

The nurse gets back to Sana holding a trash can for Chaeyoung to drop his stomach’s contents in, and is very grateful for the unfortunate boy who was sporting a purple eye already. She patches up the cub and gives him something for his stomach just so she could get that out of the way already and treat her most frequent visitor. Sooyoung had explained everything on their way back, she had also witnessed the harassment a few times herself too, and could just pray for the boy to be safe and patch him up to the best of her abilities and try to make things easier.

Sana had a purple eye and a busted lip, courtesy of the two punches that other boy had thrown at him, for whatever reason it might have been. Honestly, Sana never knew what he did for things to get so complicated, he was just being himself as a decent and pleasant human being, next thing he knew he was being confessed to, screamed at, and sometimes beaten up. Not that he couldn’t fight back, he was 2nd dan in iaijutsu, he just didn’t appreciate beating others up without reason or need like they did to him. The principal was very thankful and equally confused by this stance, but wasn’t about to say anything if things were resolved rather easily every time, the teachers and the nurse were the ones advocating justice for Minatozaki.

“You alright, Sacchan?” Mina calls from the door, he had just got the message and bolted to the nurse’s office.

“Micchan!” Sana winces. “I’m gonna be alright. Sooyoungie helped me here and mrs Kim already gave me something for the pain.”

“I was very worried when I got a text from Soongie saying you were hurt again.” Mina proceeds softly.

“I know, and thank you for worrying.” Sana speaks just as softly. They were always very calm with each other. “But it’s alright, I’m sure it’s just another misunderstanding.”

Watching those two soft boys talking to each other, and Mina caressing his best friend’s head with so much care, one would never think they were both highly trained killing machines, both from traditional martial arts families. Sana was iaijutsu and Mina was third dan in jujutsu, they could kill anyone with their thumb, and anyone who knew this about them wondered how these two never had been seen fighting back against anyone. Sooyoung himself was very impressed and equally intimidated when Sana had invited him to the Myoui estate for the first time, Mina lived in a big house with a private dojo, watching him spar (playfully) with Sana showed the captain that those two were really better off not angered.

“How about we take you both home?” Sooyoung offers, breaking the moment.

“Don’t you have practice?” Mina was confused.

“It’s alright, I’ll have Seul and Joonie take over for the day. I’m worried about Sacchan and I know you two came here by bike. I’m not allowing him to exert himself after being hurt like that.”

“When you put it like that, I can’t let Sacchan ride back either.” Mina agrees. “Thank you Soongie.”

“It’s what best friends do. Now, I’m going to get his bag and switch the books. Can you keep him company for me?” Mina just nods and Sooyoung leaves.

Chaeyoung was thoroughly entertained by the exchange. He knew Mina, and never really saw him be this caring about anyone, except Nayeon, that is, speaking of which, he burst through the doors wailing about being worried his baby was going to die, before jumping into the bed and hugging Sana tightly, or as tight as the injuries allowed. Now this was something worth witnessing, the not-couple couple were known for never getting too intimate with others, and here they were, coddling Sana like he was their own child. These people were worth befriending, Chaeyoung decided, and the fact that his new love interest was among them was a bonus. But now he needed the trash can again.

“Guys!” The smaller boy called. “Can someone hand me that trash can right now!”

Sana sprung from his bed and was just in time too. Nayeon was a bit disgusted and Mina moved to take over, telling his best friend to go back and lay down again. Both were really nice like that, which made liking them so easy and rewarding. Another reason for those close to them to become livid when any of the two was being mistreated. Who could hate these two fluffy balls of positivity and keep a clean conscience, even!

“Well, boys you can go home now.” Mrs Kim tells her two patients, then turns to Sana. “I’m writing you off tomorrow as well, so just stay home and rest.” She hands him a slip and goes to the other kid. “And you, just have a good night's sleep, remember to eat something even if you don’t feel like it.” 

“Thank you, mrs Kim.” Sana, Mina and, surprisingly, Nayeon say to the nurse at the same time. 

“Alright, now move along, all of you. I have a date with my husband tonight and I’m not about to be late.” The woman laughs, she saw Sana and his friends so much she considered them her nephews now.

“We’ll go. But wear the blue dress with the black closed shoes, they make you look younger and do wonders for your S line.” Sana says as he hugs the nurse who always takes such good care of him. He’s been in her office so much they even talked date outfits for the woman regularly.

“Will do. Do you have someone to help you home, mr Son?” She notices that Chaeyoung is having difficulty standing up.

“We can take him home.” Nayeon offers, then turns to the small boy. “If you are okay with that, I mean.”

“I would like that, thank you.” The very nauseated cub agrees. “I might need a couple of bags or a trash can for the journey, though.”

Mrs Kim and the other boys chuckle, and the nurse hands him some barf bags for the journey. Sooyoung had been waiting by the door, holding Sana’s bag, already prepared to leave, there was a new companion, it seemed. But it’s alright, Nayeon might seem like the toxic and prideful alpha male but he is really a sweetheart, very caring and attentive to others in need. One of the reasons Mina fell for him so easily, not that the quiet boy would ever let him know, nobody would hear the end of it.

“I’m Im Nayeon, these are Park Sooyoung, Myoui Mina and Minatozaki Sana.” Nayeon introduces, helping Chaeyoung walk and pointing to the others. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Son Chaeyoung.” His voice is very hoarse. “Thank you for the help.”

“No problem. You need to get your bag and your books, right?” Mina asks. “We’ll help you out.”

“Thanks. My bag is at the crafts clubroom, but I’ll need to get some books in my locker before heading home.”

“Then to the crafts club we go.” Nayeon agrees. “Hey, Soongie! Can you handle Sacchan alone? Mina and I are helping Chae get his things and take him home.”

“Sure I can. We’ll talk later.” Sooyoung dismisses the others. “Good luck, kids.”

And they leave Mina and Nayeon to care for the sick boy. Sooyoung, just as the couple, knows Sana should get home as fast as possible, keeping him up like this might just make things worse. And it’s not like any of them could leave the new kid alone either, he was looking dead. So they parted ways, the path to the Minatozaki house was known by Sana’s friends, he got into so much trouble that they all got used to taking him home, the way was like second nature to them. At the crafts clubroom, Nayeon, Mina and Chaeyoung arrived at the meeting still happening, drawing curious looks to the odd group.

“I thought you two had already gone home?” Yeri greets them by the door, looking very confused as to why the couple was accompanying his friend when he definitely saw them leave earlier.

“Hey Yermmie!” Nayeon greets warmly, they knew each other and the eldest had a weird fondness for the younger one. “We did, but Soongie messaged Mina when we were waiting for the bus, so here we are.”

“Oh, Sana got beat up again?”

“Sure did. Nurse Kim gave him the day off tomorrow, but I’m sure auntie will take him to the hospital as soon as Soongie starts talking.”

“Well, at least we know Sacchan will be taken care of. Now, Chaengie, you look like the dead.”

“I feel worse, though. There was just so much blood.” Chaeyoung manages to croak out.

“I’m guessing you two are taking him home?” Yerim asks. “I’ll get his bag, just a sec.”

Nayeon and Mina move the dying boy to a bench on the other side of the hallway, too lazy to get into the clubroom and have to talk to the teacher. Yerim is back soon, holding a white bag completely bedazzled, must be Chaeyoung’s bag alright. The three talk for a while, but the little one is just fighting to not spill whatever remained in his stomach at that point, then he feels himself being hoisted up on both sides. 

Yeri had texted Nayeon the address, seeing his friend was down for the count, so the not-couple couple didn’t bother to force conversation and risk making the boy throw up again, it would be the third time during their journey and Nayeon was just not about that life at all. Mina was being the angel he is, and patiently helped the sick guy out and soothed his not-boyfriend whenever a barf bag made an appearance. Thankfully, Chaeyoung’s house was just a ten minute ride, and the bus driver was nice enough to help them sit the boy at the front, it was just easier on everyone involved


	3. 3

“Hey, Yermmie. You are early and at the field, what’s up?” Seungwan asks when he spots the unexpected visitor.

“Well, I came to tell you Chaeng was puking his guts out and went home earlier. Since I can find you wherever Joonie is, I just decided to wait for Seul here already.”

“Oh, what happened? Why didn’t you call me?” 

“Calm down, maybe? Soongie got it covered, then Mina and Nayeon took him home. It’s all fine.”

“Didn’t those two go home?”

“Looks like Soongie texted Mina and they were still waiting for the bus. Sacchan was beaten up again.”

“Now it makes sense. Sacchan is fine though, right?!”

“Don’t really know, I heard it from Nayeonnie when they came by the clubroom for Chae’s bag.”

“I’ll just call Soongie later. Thanks, Yerm.”

“No problem.”

The boys just fall into silence, watching the final minutes of practice and waiting for their partners to be done for the day. Yerim would usually meet the football group by the gates, the crafts club was always too entertaining and he hated the smell of sweaty teenage boys, the visuals were appealing, don’t get him wrong, but the smell was just a hard pass from Kim Yerim. Normally he would be met with Dahyun, Jihyo and Seungwan, as they waited for Seulgi, Joohyun and Sooyoung to be showered and properly deodorantized (I’m making it a word now, sue me) before heading home together, all lived in the same area and close enough to each other.

While Joohyun and Seungwan were a match made in heaven, despite nobody believing Seungwan wasn’t dating Jihyo, some conceding they might be in a three-way relationship or that Seungwan was dating both at the same time, Seulgi and Yerim were an unlikely couple. They were opposite sides of the same coin, despite being the same sappy, romantic and sickly sweet goofballs on the inside, both were too different in the way they carried themselves. So much so, it took awhile for the ones closer to them to understand they worked perfectly.

It was just the “meeting my friends’ friend” kind of thing, back then, Yeri was dating Chaeyoung, one of the cub’s longer relationships, and it was only about three months. Which was the reason he was invited to the Sons’ home, and was met with Seungwan and Joohyun, who took him under their wings half an hour into their conversation. When the inevitable breakup happened, Chaeyoung and Yerim were really just friends and didn’t see why they would continue to try for a relationship that wasn’t for them, everything was very peaceful and they remained very close friends…. Who knew each other intimately (two horny pre-teens making out while pressing their bodies together could tell a lot if one was paying attention), but that wasn’t something that would come between them, they decided.

Seulgi came into the scene when Joohyun got into highschool and entered football team, Sooyoung too, but we’ll get to him another time. It was an instant chemistry between the two new additions and their group, even Jihyo liked them immediately and that guy took long to like anyone, while Seulgi got along with everyone, being really nice and level headed, Sooyoung was playful and his mischievous side fit perfectly with Chaeyoung and Yerim. It was nice, and their relationship took a while to begin. It was six months after meeting that Seulgi asked Yeri out on their first date, and the younger only understood it was a date because both Chaeyoung and Joohyun hit him up the head before launching on an hour long tirade about how oblivious he was.

The shy bear was thoroughly pleased when his mom dropped him at Yerim’s house and he found his date waiting for him in his nice clothes with flowers in hand. Seulgi had seen how Yeri was hard to get hints, and feared the younger one was thinking it was a friendly outing, he would find out much later to thank Joohyun and Chaeyoung for having drilled into the boy it was a date date. They went to the movies and then to have some ice cream, then mrs Kang picked them up and brought them home, it was great and they decided they were dating in the time it took to get to the Kims. It was really just having study sessions during the week and going out for whatever they were feeling like on the weekends. 

With both boys in highschool now, things were getting increasingly more intimate and the weekend outings were slowly becoming weekend stay ins. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Yerim was crazy about Seulgi, it was the same the other way around, but we’ll get there, he paid close attention to his boyfriend and knew all the subtleties of Kang Seulgi by heart already. The older one, however, might be a bit slow to catch up, he was just distracted easily and that made him miss something or another from time to time, but he sure as hell did his best to be a better boyfriend everyday and Yerim loved him for that.

Park Sooyoung, the captain of the football team, star athlete and completely unavailable for whomever wanted to take the chance to try a date with him. Great stand up guy, very polite, could be a little devil when paired with the troublemaker duo (read Yerim and Chaeyoung), but always played by the rules and could be called a goody-two-shoes by anyone not close enough to know his playful personality. He was the heir to a fairly big company, and his father had signed him up to an arranged marriage when he was three.

Sooyoung hated his parents for deciding his future for him, but as the filial son he would never just walk out on them for that. His fiance was five years older than him and was rebelling against the wedding for both of them, she was nice and both got along really well, but Taeyeon just couldn’t accept that her future had been decided like that and lashed out whenever she could. The two talked a lot and were good friends, Sooyoung even told her that she should go out and date whomever she pleased and live her life, he would be there whenever she needed, that she had a friend in him and that would never fail. He had managed to stay true to his words since he uttered them.

Sure, his fiance was out living her life, but he took his compromise seriously, never entertaining the idea of giving himself to anyone other than the woman his parents had tied him to. It hurt whenever Taeyeon called him on late nights, crying about how she got her heart broken again, or how wild her one night stand was, he was her fiance, yet there was not a single ounce of respect for their engagement from the young woman. Mr Park was adamant in the beginning, but after watching his son getting farther and farther away from the energetic and lively boy he raised with his wife. 

When Sooyoung came to them and asked to be put in therapy, he knew things had gone really wrong, the boy was twelve then, and it had only been two years since the young man opened up to his parents about what was wrong, and mr Park was working tirelessly to annul the marriage behind the scenes. The fact that Sooyoung showed absolutely no signs of the teen energy and disposition he was expecting sent the old man in a relentless journey to make things right. Sooyoung didn’t know about this pending annulment, and Taeyeon obviously didn’t either, so he still took care of the woman diligently, like the good fiance he was trying to be. 

Mr Kim, upon receiving the news about the annulment, started doing his own investigation, he sent one of his men to shadow his daughter and what he found left him doubting his own and his wife’s parenting. The request for dissolving the engagement was promptly accepted and mr Kim started working with mr Park to settle their business and set the boy free. It would take some time, and they were trying to make it happen before the contract was due, both men just hoped the boy would hold on until then.

Sooyoung spent his afternoons in football practice, when he got home he would do his homework, study for a while and then work out on their private gym at the back. All that before dinner, where he would talk to his parents and share whatever little he felt like revealing, and the couple would be happy with whatever their son chose to trust them with. It was slow, but it was progress from the breakdown the boy had a few years back, after which he got completely closed off and it took long years of therapy to get him at least talking to them again.


	4. The Yoos, the Chous and their kids

“Come here my sweet babies!” Tzuyu exclaimed as soon as he set foot at the Yoo residence and heard the small paws heading his way. “How are you my sweeties? Did you miss daddy? Daddy missed you all as well.”

“You do understand they are not your pups and you are far from being their official designated dad, right?!” Seungyeon laughs from down the hall.

“Oh, semantics. I’m their favorite and everyone knows it.”

“Jeong, why are you dating this brat again?”

“I don’t know either, sis. But let’s not tell him the dogs have chosen dad as their owner.” Jeongyeon has moved towards the kitchen to greet his sister.

Everyone in the Yoo family, and in the Chou family, knew Tzuyu would always stop for the pets before addressing any humans that could be present. Jeongyeon just stopped minding it about a week into their relationship, Seungyeon was still having a hard time getting used to it. The young woman was a freshly graduated psychologist and was still working on not analysing just everyone in her life, it was hard but she was getting there, and both Jeongyeon and Sujin hated it with all their might, the eldest Yoo had been subjecting them both to her ‘hare krishna’ talk since she entered college and everything must be solved through conversation and reaching deep inside, some times her brother and sister just wanted to eat a tub of ice cream and watch sad movies.

Tzuyu, on the other hand, loved it, his older brother had moved back to Taiwan when he went to college and decided to stay there, he had been feeling very lonely since, and having Seungyeon willingly sit down and talk to him was just great. He could never be her official patient, but they did have a lot of heart to heart late night conversations that both enjoyed thoroughly. The other yoo kids thought that connection was great, and it distracted Seungyeon from her brother and sister, who were very happy to be left alone. Not that the two didn’t enjoy having such an understanding and accepting older sister, they just felt smothered more often than not and were always thankful for the fresh breath.

“You alright, little brother?” Sujin greets from the island, she was testing another recipe, it seemed.

“I’m great, how about you? I heard you come in very late last night and the sound of you coming up the stairs told me you were half dead.” Jeongyeon chuckles.

“Not just half, but I’m alright now. Slept until lunch and now I’m doing very well with this test here.”

“I’m glad you rested. Now, give me some of that, it smells great.”

“Where’s Tzu? I’m sure I heard him.”

“With the dogs. He’ll be here soon.” Jeongyeon dismisses quickly, he was hungry. “Now cut me some of that meat and let me make a sandwich before I drool all over this.”

The Yoo sisters laugh, but Jeongyeon was very serious about the drool, which he cleans promptly when it does indeed come out a little. The guy was hungry and the roast his sister had come up with was just making him all the more hungry, so he moved to make himself and his boyfriend his own sandwich. Even if he didn’t say anything and was still playing with the dogs, Tzuyu was very hungry too and Jeongyeon knew it, he also knew the younger one would steal his food if he didn’t provide him anything. 

“Hey!” Tzuyu greets the Yoo sisters as Jeongyeon is finishing their snack. “Sujinnie, I heard you had a hard day yesterday, are you feeling better now?”

“I’m great, Tzu.” Sujin kisses the boy’s cheek as a greeting.

“How about you, Seungyeonnie?”

“I’m good too, Tzutzu. Now go wash your hands before mr grumpy over there loses his patience. He’s been waiting for you to eat together.” Seungyeon hugs the tall young man and whispers her instructions.

The three giggle and Tzuyu does move to the sink to wash his hands, he was very hungry and he knew Jeongyeon could get very snappy whenever he was kept hungry uselessly. Only Tzuyu knows how many times he snuck snacks in for his boyfriend when they attended some formal event that would take too long, be it Seungwan’s debate competitions, Jihyo’s piano recitals, Sana and Mina’s martial meets, you name it. If food was forbidden, Tzuyu would bring snacks for Jeongyeon anyways because he knew the boy would lash out at the minor annoyance when hungry.

Sujin was a chef apprentice, she was halfway through culinary school and was the one to take over after papa Yoo, not that Jeongyeon couldn’t, but she really wanted to so they let her. The boys’ favorite days were when she was home and testing recipes, no matter how much she messed something up, they’d be willing subjects to eat it all. Not that anything came out inedible, but she was doing her internship under a two Michelin stars chef, and anything below flawless was a miss. The family would often spend hours in the kitchen just eating whatever she dismissed as a failure as dishes after dishes were made and carefully analysed. She’d photograph the ones she was satisfied with and take notes on everything, the rights, and especially the wrongs of each dish.

Today’s theme seemed to be beef, Tzuyu just sent his parents a message that he was going to eat at Jeongyeon’s and they told him they’d pick him up after their dinner date, then. A lot of times mama and papa Chou would join the Yoos and their son for tasting nights, but most times like this, they’d take the time for themselves and go out on a date. The couple had been together for over twenty years already, but still dated like they did when they first began going out. The passion, the effort, the excitement never died down and neither was willing to let that happen anytime soon.

The siblings and Tzuyu were gathered around the table, just talking about anything when Seungyeon decided it was time for her to meddle. They were all used to it, it was her way of showing her concern and that she cared for them. 

“So, are you two using protection or should I take you both out to buy some?” 

At this, Tzuyu choked and wheezed, Jeongyeon froze and got to an unhealthy shade of red, Sujin broke out laughing and the dogs started barking.

“What? No need to be like that.”Seungyeon was completely unbothered. “You are both healthy boys and you both have your natural needs, I’m just making sure you are safe and taking care of yourselves.”

Tzuyu, now, couldn’t look anywhere other than his food, which he didn’t feel like eating anymore. Jeongyeon recovered enough to glare at this sister and answer her.

“Sis, I appreciate the thought, but we aren’t doing what you think we are doing.”

“Oh, great, then we can have a conversation about it before you both jump into things blindly.” Seungyeon was just too excited about it.

“Just accept it and humor her. Trust me when I say it will be even more painful to try and fight it.” Sujin, still very entertained, advises. She’s had this conversation with her sister AND their parents herself before.

“Fine, but do it before mom and dad are back.” Jeongyeon agrees, he knew the look in Sujin’s eyes and knew to agree for his own good.

“Great! So you say you both aren’t there yet.” Seungyeon quips.

“We aren’t ready.” Tzuyu mumbles, still not looking up. 

“But you both spend a lot of time closed in Jeong’s room, and I know naughty sounds when I hear them.” 

“Okay, first, ew. Stop listening to us. Second, we spend private time together, the closed door is just to keep the pets out. The door is always unlocked and you could just go in at any time.” Jeongyeon tries to scold his sister.

“Nah, I’d rather not just go in. But how about the many times I’ve passed you both in the hallway and you were very, ahm, happy?”

“Again, ew.” Jeongyeon starts, but Tzuyu chimes in before he continues.

“I know you are great at noticing everything, Seungyeonnie, but please stop mentioning this, as you said, we are healthy boys. Just know that nothing like that is happening.”

“Fine.” The woman relents. “But I still want you both to know that being safe is important, and I’ll be taking you two to buy protection and some other necessities on saturday. No arguments.”

The boys relent and agree, then Seungyeon launches into a full on class on safe sex, the importance of using protection even if they are both boys, the other things they might need like lube, toys all that jass. Made both promise that they would come to her if they ever felt like exploring something potentially dangerous, things or if they ever had any doubts in general. All in all, it was by far the strangest experience the boys ever had, but both appreciated Seungyeon and her way of taking care of them, even if it was very invasive and unfiltered. They understood and loved her for it, despite all the awkwardness and discomfort. 

When mama and papa Chou heard about it from their son that evening, both laughed like there was no tomorrow, mama Chou had to run to the bathroom at some point, or she would wet herself from laughter. Papa Chou took that moment to tell his son he was also available if the boy preferred to go to him about anything but assured his kid that Seungyeon was very right in everything she said, and he was more than happy that she was willing to help the boys out with everything. Reminding Tzuyu to buy supplies to keep at their own home for the times Jeongyeon spent the night. Having open and supportive families was great, but neither Tzuyu nor Jeongyeon had been able to move past their utter shyness about talking intimate things with them.


	5. Sana, mama and papa Minatozaki and his typical wednesday

“Sacchan, wake up sweetie.” Mama Minatozaki calls her son early in the morning. “Breakfast is ready, and papa has to leave soon. Just come down to eat then get ready later.”

“Be right down, mom.” Sana grumbles sleepily.

“Good. We’ll be waiting, hun.” 

With that, mama Minatozaki leaves to finish fixing the breakfast table. In the household, either mama or papa Minatozaki would make breakfast and set the table, it depended on who had more time that morning, then the family would eat together and Sana would clean up before getting ready for school. The boy was always the one with most time in the mornings, and it fell upon him to handle things, not that he minded at all, it was nice and kind of therapeutic to do the dishes. A mindless activity to allow his mind to wonder as it wished.

Contrary to popular belief, Sana was far from the all positive and affectionate airhead people thought him to be. It was a family trait among the Minatozaki to have a rather high mental capacity, on his father side the high IQ prevailed, and on his mother’s side the physical prowess was the dominant trait, to say his birth was carefully crafted would be an understatement, his parents were very careful with conceiving him, even going as far to resort to genetic engineers to ensure their child would get the very best from both.

The fact that mama and papa Minatozaki were pacifists and naturalists, however, never made them stray from science and Sana grew up the gentlest and most positive killing machine Japan had seen. Mama Minatozaki, former Yamaguchi Sayako, came from a family with deep roots in the art of iaijutsu, every family member was trained in it from birth, and would be, at least, a black belt by the time they became twelve. Sana was a prodigy and only stopped on his second dan because his parents moved to korea for work and he didn’t really mind halting his trainment for a while.

As Sana makes his way downstairs, he feels it’s a good idea to pee first, and decides to swing by the bathroom before heading down, maybe brush his teeth while at it. Having a meal with his parents was always great, they listened to Sana and cared about everything the boy had to tell them, told him about their plans for the day and all ate happily, the family made an effort to have at least one meal together everyday, it was their time to connect and mr and mrs Minatozaki could fawn upon their boy to their heart’s content. Sana loved his parents with all his heart, they were understanding, never failed to make time for him, were always there when he needed them and never kept him from the things he wanted to do for himself. No matter the path Sana chose, his parents would be completely supportive, and he was incredibly thankful for that.

“Mom, dad.”

“Yes, Sacchan?” Mr Minatozaki prompted his son to speak up.

“Am I gay?” 

“Why are you asking us, sweetheart?” Mrs Minatozaki was thoroughly confused.

“Because the guy that hit me monday said I should just keep my gay ass away from his girl. And I don’t even know who he was talking about.” Sana’s eyes well up with tears. “I wasn’t trying to give anyone the wrong idea, and you always told me to be nice to everyone. But it wasn’t the first time people said I’m gay.”

“Good thing you reminded me of that, I’ll take you to school today.” Mrs Minatozaki began, she was meaning to have a word with the headmaster. “But the real question is, do YOU think you are gay, hun?”

“Eh?” Sana lets out softly.

“Son, we can’t answer that question for you.” Mr Minatozaki hugs his son and speaks fondly. “Only you know who you love, and that’s okay. Your mother and I are here to hold you through it, but we can’t give you the answer you are looking for.”

“It’s okay, dad. I was just wondering.”

“What prompted you to ask us that, sweetie?”

“Many boys confess to me saying things like I should just surrender to them? I don’t really get what they are saying, but it doesn't sound like something I’d like to do. And then the girls just scream for me to take them right there when they confess, which I also don’t feel like I’d want to do.”

“How about you just take your time and think about it, hun. Just reach within yourself and search if you feel attracted to girls, boys, both, none.” Mrs Minatozaki begins.

“Maybe you just haven’t found someone to connect with yet. Perhaps you need to know the person before you actually get interested in them like that. It’s alright, and we are here for whatever you need us.” Mr Minatozaki offers.

“Just take your time and don’t force yourself. If you are honest with yourself, everything will work out fine.”

“Thanks mom, thanks dad.” Sana kisses his father’s cheek and gets up to kiss his mom too.

“No problem. Now go get ready and I’ll be waiting for you.” Mrs Minatozaki shoos her kid away.

“But the dishes.”

“Sacchan, go. Take a moment to meditate a little and clear your head. I’ll take care of the dishes and then I’ll take you to school. I need a word with the headmaster.”

“Okay.” Sana is a bit sad but moves to do as he was told.

Mama and papa Minatozaki advised their son to light some incense and do some light meditation whenever he got that confused about things. Sana was a good kid, but he could lose himself a little when he let his thoughts get the best of him, and they knew it. Having the kid act out on his anger and confusion was far from ideal and they prefered to just try and guide him through whatever it was that was troubling him, than just have Sana close himself off and let things build up uncontrollably.

There was still a little over an hour before Sana had to be at school, and not be late for class, so he set an alarm for forty minutes later and lit his favorite incense before sitting down and turning on some classical music. It was his meditation, and he preferred classical to meditation music, sounds of nature and waterfalls were never really his thing. It was always nice, and his mom had a knack for making the most relaxing scents, just like his dad got the hang of soap making, the family practiced aroma therapy, mr Minatozaki got his certification in it a little after they married, and his wife managed to develop a technique to make incense without the ash smell that always lingered.

Sana considered himself blessed, and maybe because his parents were the best he could ever have asked for, things always were fine in the end, no matter how much he was harassed, he could always go back home and count on their unconditional support. He turned off his alarm with a light heart and peaceful mind, went on to take a shower and put his uniform before heading out. Mrs Minatozaki was ready and waiting for him in the living room when he got down.

“Better?”

“Much better, thanks mom.”

“Good, let’s go.”

And so they leave, mrs Minatozaki drove them to the school, it was really close but she was going off to work and it made no sense that she would make the twenty minute walk back for it. That and she didn’t want Sana to get worked up again, not having him walk would help keep the peaceful state he was at the moment. Once they are parked by the visitor area, Sana is ushered off to class and his mother heads to the student office. She was about to have some not so nice words with the people allowing her son to be mistreated like this.

Making his way to class, Sana is greeted by the familiar and not familiar faces. People seemed to know him but he didn’t really know most of them. Getting to his locker, there was a very familiar face waiting for him, that small kid in the nurse’s office who was dying and had a cut somewhere, he isn’t too sure, but there was definitely blood and puking. What was this guy’s name again? It was Wannie’s brother. Son….. Chengwon? Chaewan? CHAEYOUNG! Right, that was it.

“Hey!” Sana greets cheerily. “Chaeyoung, right? Are you feeling better?”

“I was the one supposed to ask that. I just saw blood and got a little nauseated, no biggie.” Chaeyoung says lightly. “You, on the other hand, was pretty roughed up. How are you holding?”

“I’d say you were very dead by looking at you, a little nauseated doesn’t really describe it.” The taller one laughs. “But I’m alright. My mom dragged me to the hospital when I got home, it’s still a bit sore on my cheek but I’m fine.”

“Semantics, but that’s not important. It’s great to see you are alright.” The cub looks like he wants to say something else, so the older boy waits. “Say, do you maybe wanna eat lunch together?”

“Sure! But Soongie might want me to eat with him too. He gets too worried.”

“I can join you.” Chaeyoung is too enthusiastic. “Yeri was going to sit with Seul anyway.”

“Then it’s a date.” Sana chirps, not really thinking of the implications of what he said. 

“I’ll pick you up at your class.” 

And then Chaeyoung leaves, not before giving the taller guy a quick peck on his still purple cheek. Sana is rendered stunned for a moment, before coming back to and smiling to himself. Mrs Minatozaki always gave him a kiss to make his bruises better, so he just thought of it as a new friend kissing his cheek better. Certainly not what Chaeyoung had intended to convey, but our sweet and innocent japanese boy won’t really understand that until much later. 

Now, the fact that Minatozaki Sana was one of the most known names in the school, be it bad or good, everyone had heard the name at some point. It was also a known fact that Sana was extremely nice and polite, no matter who he was talking to. For that reason, he had many who were very fond of him (and many who weren’t, but we aren’t talking about them now). Chaeyoung was hit in the face by that fact once he skipped to Sana’s classroom and start getting closer to the older boy.

Sana was standing just outside his classroom, talking to THE Elkie Chong and half the cheerleading squad around him, all giggles and cheery whispers. They weren’t really whispering, Sana was just soft spoken and the girls tried to accommodate him the best they could, but Chaeyoung’s mind wasn’t exactly working properly at the moment. Elkie was not the captain, but she was pretty up there in the ranks of most sought after, the entire squad was, but she made it to top ten, and that was something that grinded Chaeyoung to the bone.

Now, what they were talking about wasn’t anything to be jealous of, like at all, Elkie wastelling Sana she tried the soap his dad gave her and it was magical, the boy was saying she could swing by anytime to talk to the man about it and he would give her a complete guide to the best aromatherapy stores in town. Then she went on a tangent telling him about how the other girls were trying to get her soap and they ended up fighting in the locker room halfway through showering and the coach had taken her soap away, telling Elkie she should come by the office at the end of the day to get it. The other cheerleaders piped in here and there defending themselves, and Sana was just thoroughly amused at how could a simple soap cause a cheerleader war to break out.

Not that Chaeyoung would ever think their relationship was purely platonic, built on a fortunate incident where Sana saw Elkie and Seunghee massaging their necks in class and decided to offer them a massage gel his father had given him. The thing worked so well that Shuhua, the captain, cornered Sana and demanded he showed up to their practice that afternoon, there, the entire squad started asking him about his ‘miracle gel’, the boy got a little intimidated, but called his father and mr Minatozaki was more than happy to point the girls in the right direction. Ever since then, Sana has been close friends with the entire cheerleading squad, and the girls became friends with Sana’s parents too, they did kept asking about herbal solutions for their practice aches, so the Minatozakis just invited them over for lunch one weekend and told them everything they wanted to know, also promising any of them could count on them anytime.

“Then we should just meet up and solve your problem.” Is what Sana giggled to Elkie when the cub approached them. “Oh, hey, Chaeng!”

“Hey, Sana. Ready to go?” Chaeyoung tried his best to not sound too affected, but the smirks on the girls lips told him he failed.

“Sure am.” The japanese was still oblivious to it all. “I’ll see you girls later. Text me when you are free, Elks.”

The cheerleaders hug Sana goodbye, purposefully making it look insinuating of intimacy, Elkie lingered a few seconds too long and gave Sana a peck on his cheek, all the while looking straight at Chaeyoung, just to rile the smaller boy up. The girls leave, not before Elkie throws a ‘ _ I’ll call you later tonight’ _ to Sana, who said he’d be waiting. And now Chaeyoung was feeling pissed for whatever reason. He knew why but thought it was too early to admit that to himself. Sana, dear, kind hearted and lovely Sana, didn’t notice a single thing wrong, and just dragged his new friend to the cafeteria because he was very hungry and being a vegetarian meant he had to hurry or the good salads would be gone.

Hurrying over, the younger learned, was pointless, the lunch ladies always made Sana a special meal and held it out for him. The boy was so polite and charismatic that the lunch ladies took him under their wing and made it a point to have something with more substance for him to eat, other then just a lot of leaves and some dressing. They argued that Sana was a growing boy and needed to eat better, and would pay no mind to the boy’s protests that he couldn’t let them risk getting into trouble for making food just for him. At their table, Chaeyoung learned that his brother, Joohyun, Jihyo, Sooyoung, Seulgi and Yerim ate together, felt a little betrayed that his friend didn’t tell him that, but was defeated when Yerim argued he just was never interest in having lunch together.

It was nice, Sana was happy he made a new friend, and exchanged numbers with Chaeyoung by the end of lunch time, with a promise to hang out at some point, and a nice laugh as the little cub almost falls over another table on his way out because he wasn’t looking where he was going.


	6. Seungwan and the Hyun brothers

“Joonie?”

“Yes, babe?”

“Are you angry whenever people start talking about me dating Jihyo?”

“I never felt I needed to be?”

“Can you elaborate on that? I’d really like to understand.”

“Sure thing, but first, I’m going to the bathroom and then get us some more snacks.”

“Good idea, do you need me to do anything?”

“Just lay there and keep being the snack you are. I’m really hungry.”

Joohyun winks and leaves his room. Those cheesy remarks were his favorite, Seungwan was good at being cheesy too, but the older boy was just the king. The couple had been cuddling, with eventual steamy make out sessions, the day away at the Baes, Joohyun said he was feeling lonely the day before, and Seungwan wasted no time in calling his father asking if it was alright that he wanted to sleep over at his boyfriend’s house. It was a friday and the man knew his son wouldn’t be back until saturday evening, so he just said ‘ _ have fun _ ’ and started trying to get his youngest out as well, it was the perfect opportunity for some alone time with his wife, and he wasn’t about to miss the chance.

Seungwan took the time his boyfriend was out getting them snacks, to slip out of his jeans and into one of Joohyun’s many sweatpants. Nobody knows what it is with the Hyun brothers and their sweatpants, at least this one was dark blue, not one of the colorful ones the duo was famous for. But they were ridiculously comfy, all of them, and Seungwan was not about to miss the chance to slip into one of them. The Hyun brothers were also known to be very protective of said pants collection, and dating one granted you absolutely no special rights to them. 

This was a risky bet, it would be worth it if things went right, but very risky regardless, Joohyun had already given his boyfriend a few pants of his own, but they weren’t as comfy, maybe due to the fact that Joohyun and Dahyun loved to iron every single piece of clothing they owned and had brother bonding time while going out to shop for the best fabric softeners, and conducting their own trials to determine the best ones. They did have different softeners for different fabrics and everything just sounded ridiculous to any outsider. When he was gifted his own pants, Seungwan was told he’d have to wash and iron them himself, Joohyun was very clear that he was his boyfriend, not his maid.

“You might want to get your own pants.” Joohyun said coldly as he entered the room. “Or you might just go and see if you get lucky with Jihyo.”

“We both know he is completely at Dubs’ mercy. And I’m completely at yours.” Seungwan counters, but gets up to change again anyways. 

“Well, those two aren’t really  _ together _ together, anything could happen.”

“Me and Jihyo actually getting it on with each other isn’t one of those things.”

“All I know is that we talked about my pants and you still ignore what I’ve said. And now we are going to have to do something about you acting out again.”

“But they are just so much more comfy!”

“And yours could be too, if you got off your lazy ass and did some work for a change.”

“I’m not like you and Dubs. I do wash them myself and fold them too.”

“I was summoned?” Dahyun, who was passing by, decided to come in.

“Go back to the depths of hell you crawled out of!” Seungwan bites.

“Now, now, Wannie. Don’t be so mad. You did speak my name out loud.”

“You see, Dubs, Wannie here is complaining we don’t allow him our sweatpants, and that his are never as comfortable.” Joohyun snakes an arm across his brother’s shoulder.

“Well, Joonie, this is a bit of a pickle. I do remember that we have provided him with the exact same kind of pants we both own ourselves.”

“And everything needed to maintain said pants. Yet, ours seem to be worth the risk of trying to snatch them.” Joohyun completes.

“I hate when you both gang up on me about my unwillingness of going to the lengths you both go for your clothing.”

“If you want the reward, Wanwan, you have to do the work.” Dahyun only ever called his brother-in-law like that when mocking him.

“You know what, Joonie, you and I are having a laundry date tonight, give me some shorts or something and lets wash absolutely every clothing I have here! And then we are going to iron everything and I better be feeling like I’m wearing a cloud when we are done!” Seungwan succumbs to the taunting and storms to the closet to get all his clothes there.

“Thanks.” Joohyun whispers to his brother.

“No problem. Have fun.”

“You going out?”

“Yeah, I’m going to Jihyo’s, we have a science project to finish and the rest of our group hasn’t even shown any signs of life ever since we were assigned it.”

“I’m taking Jihyo has already convinced your teacher to allow just the two of you to hand in the work and be graded separately from the others.”

“You know how he is when he gets angry. And we are supposed to hand the completed work in on tuesday. He was fuming when none of the others showed up yesterday to put everything together and finish it.”

“Well, I’m sure you both are getting the top grade again, but those kids better start choosing their coffins.”

“I know. Now, I’m off and won’t be back until it’s finished. Don’t need Jihyo to break my arm again.”

“You are lucky all he broke was your arm, I’d have taken your leg too. Just remember to call mom tomorrow and update her.”

“I will.”

“Good luck.”

And then Dahyun leaves, with a tight hug to his brother and a chuckle at Seungwan, who was now taking the clothes on his body off to join the pile. Joohyun just closes the door behind his brother, their parents didn’t need to witness the naked glory of Son Seungwan, who was looking for a pair of shorts in the closet in said nakedness. This was all better then Joohyun could have planned. He has been trying to get his boyfriend to actually put some more than just the minimum work into things, and it was starting to get annoying. If they were speaking living together when they move to college, things would have to start changing. Even if Seungwan was trying to get into the same college, minimum work would never get him there, and Joohyun will not settle for less, he respected himself too much for that.

“Are you telling me why you don’t mind people saying I’m dating Jihyo?” Seungwan asked again when they finished starting the first load.

“Because, honey, Jihyo is not that kind of guy, he will never make a single advance on anyone not available. Also, you are not the kind of guy who cheats. If there was anything between you both, this relationship wouldn’t still be happening.”

“You are really not wrong about that.”

“I know, other people don’t, but that’s their problem, not mine. Also, we all know I’d go for Jihyo easily if he was interested.”

Joohyun just hugs his boyfriend and they stand there in silence for a while, watching the machine spin. Until Seungwan sneezes and is hurried back to Joohyun’s room for a shirt he had refused to wear before.


	7. Jihyo, Dahyun and their insufferable dance

If there was something everyone around Dahyun and Jihyo on a daily basis hated, it was how they fed off dancing around each other and pissing everybody off. Their parents had already declared their relationship official because they couldn’t bear it any longer, still the two were absolutely not dating yet. Joohyun seems to be the only one not that affected by it, sure he got pissed from time to time as well, but he was mostly fine with the insufferable duo. 

Right now we have Jihyo and Dahyun at the Parks’ residence, sitting in the living room with everything they had for their research scattered around them, sitting close together and speaking softly with each other. Mama Park was still at work, but her husband had already texted their group chat with the Baes many photos of the two and long rants about the boys not just jumping each other. A bit wrong for parents to do that, but neither the Parks nor the Baes could take this anymore, everyone saw that the two were made for each other but neither had come out and said they were together, and that was making them lose a few years of their lives.

Dahyun was a genius artist, he had ‘The Midas’ Touch’ as many claimed, critics went crazy for his work and gallery curators clawed at each other to get his pieces on their exhibits. He was also a middle aged man in his free time, loved tracksuits and flip-flops, eating old people food and sleeping early. He was endearing, honestly, but also knew just how to play the media and his buyers like a fiddle, having been in the spotlight since he was tall and steady enough to hold a brush against a canvas. And the big bright smile he always wore whenever he was around his better half.

Jihyo, in turn, was the astonishing dark horse of greco-roman fighting, he was small, looked a little lanky in his usual clothes, and his face was too much on the adorable side to honestly intimidate anyone. His big eyes, fluffy cheeks, bright smile and adorable little nose scrunch whenever said smile showed up were a shot through Dahyun’s heart at their first meeting, and certainly a huge X for doubt on anyone fighting him. The boy was a monster in the circle, much stronger than he looked, completely flexible and surprisingly agile, all qualities that got him to national level, he was also scouted for the olympics the previous year, but chose to not participate, as he was aiming for an academic scholarship and missing so much of his junior highschool year would do some great damage to his GPA.

They were an impressive pairing, honestly, and worked really well together, they understood each other in levels nobody else could, to the point one was so attuned to the other’s needs no words were necessary. The main issue to everyone else around them, was that both seemed to have this weird fetish for courting each other and neither had a single problem with that. Their slow burn relationship was the main source of frustration for both families, and the boys loved it, they were very well aware that their parents were frustrated and just liked to enjoy all of it.

“Hyo, how about we eat something?” Dahyun suggests when he notices it’s already very dark outside.

“That’s a good idea, I’ll ask mom and dad if they are planning something. Then I might just make us some quick dinner.” Jihyo agreed, getting up to find his parents.

Mr and mrs Park were in their shared office, on the second floor. It wasn’t really needed, neither worked from home, but they wanted a room for themselves and needed to put some space between their own room and their son’s, so it became an office. All the rooms on the second floor had been soundproofed, days of Jihyo blasting his stereo during his home workouts in middle school drove his parents crazy enough to decide to invest a little more in their home for their own peace of mind. They loved their kid, but heavy metal was something both had stopped quite enjoyable back in their college days. Mr Park was lounging around with half his suit on and mrs Park was in a dilemma between her green shoes and her black ones.

“The green ones, mom.” Jihyo suggests as he enters the room. “You two are going out?”

“Thanks sweetheart.” Mrs Park kisses her son’s head as she exits the room.

“We just decided to go out with the Baes, looks like Joohyun and Seungwan are having a laundry party and we just figured a night out would be great.”

“That’s nice, dad. I’ll just fix something for Dubs and I, then. Oh, he said Joonie finally got Wannie to do his laundry properly, all it took was a little taunting.”

“Those two are little devils when they join forces. Be sure to not get on their bad sides.”

“That’s not happening, dad. If anything, Joonie will drop Wan and fight Dubs for me.”

“Uh, cocky much?”

“I only speak truths. Now, go finish getting ready, mom might come and drag you out any minute now. Also, Dubs and I will probably take the living room until we are finished, so try not to come home too wasted and pass out on the couch, it’s full of our research.”

“I’ll make sure we both head directly to our room when we arrive.”

“Thank you, mom. You look beautiful, by the way.”

“Well, thank you darling. Just try not to get too angry with Dahyun, I know you two are doing the work of six, but do remember to go to sleep at some point.”

“Yes ma’am. I’ll be off to the kitchen now.”

Jihyo kisses his mother and hugs his father before heading back down. His parents and Dahyun’s got really close ever since Seungwan and Joohyun started dating, and if they were all out tonight, there was a big chance the Sons were joining as well. Whenever the parent group went out together, they were bound to lose themselves too much and forget they are no longer college freshmen while trying to drink and dance like they are. Tonight was just one of those nights when Jihyo and Dahyun were focusing on their college applications and doing everything they needed to do to ensure their grades and a scholarship. The boys might be young to be thinking like that, but they worked hard and their social life wasn’t lacking as well, obviously their love life was thriving, so their parents just let them be.

Dahyun had stayed and kept working on their project, he knew Jihyo would talk to his parents a little before coming back down, the Park family would always talk a little whenever they got together, it was never ‘ask one question’ and ‘get one answer’ with them, and Dahyun loved it. It wasn’t that he didn’t have a great relationship with his own family, it was just how Jihyo and his parents showed love with those little unconscious things. Plus, he couldn’t wait for Jihyo to cook for them, so he just hoped mr and mrs Park to have other plans. Don’t get him wrong, mrs Park was an amazing chef, but she cooked all day as a job, so neither her husband nor her son allowed her to cook at home.

Jihyo learned everything he knew with his mother, and the boy was also a culinary genius. He had been helping mrs Park since he could hold a spoon properly and stirr without dropping everything, and the skill must be genetic because like mother like son indeed. And Dahyun felt blessed and grateful every single time Jihyo made anything for him, he even started learning a few things here and there too. It’s been a couple of years since he had asked mrs Park to teach him, and boy did he improve. It was nothing two Michelin stars worthy like mrs Park (or her son), but he did a great job with what he learned.

Seungwan and Jihyo had been friends from the crib, mrs Park was trying for her first restaurant back then and mr Son was (still is) one of the best sommeliers in the market, they were a fated meeting when the woman was looking for an A grade professional and Mr Son was looking for better hours, when he was offered a better salary right off the bat as well, he took the chance and held onto it with everything he had. That was a few weeks before mrs Park found out she was pregnant, and then mr Son said he and his wife were expecting their first child as well, and both families bonded over that. 

The kids grew up together, and when Chaeyoung came along a year later, Jihyo was more of the big brother than Seungwan, sometimes even being the most responsible one among them, despite being the second oldest. The big reason why Joohyun believed right away that his boyfriend wasn’t together with the big eyed boy was how their dynamics worked, even back then, it was clear that Jihyo could never see Seungwan as anything more than his little older brother, there were absolutely no romantic feelings there, it was clear as day for everyone to see. One just had to look. But most people didn’t bother and just thought their closeness was romance and Joohyun was being fooled and complacent.

“What are we having tonight?” Dahyun asks as he enters the kitchen.

“We could be having fun with the new game that arrived this week, but since that’s not an option today, we’ll be having some chicken pesto pasta.” Jihyo chuckles bitterly and goes back to his cooking.

Dahyun smiles and moves to help. He learned from the night’s cook himself how to make a mean pesto and Jihyo was already busy with the chicken. They were familiar with cooking together, so much so that moving with each other became their second nature, it was a familiar and practiced pace. Mr and mrs Park just popped their heads in to say goodbye and left, soon dinner was ready and they took a very well deserved break. Jihyo tended to freak out whenever things like these happened, he hated people who commited to something and didn’t even think before failing said commitment, their group seemed like it could work, but the other members were too busy with parties, rallies and living the life, and now Dahyun was just trying to not let Jihyo exhaust himself while they were trying to complete their work.

“How much more do we have to do?” The pale boy asked when they made their way back to the living room.

“We are about half way done. So, not much?” 

“Then that’s good. Think we can finish today?”

“Oh, today is gonna last as long as we need to finish this. Even if it lasts the whole weekend.”

“So we’ll be done sometime during the night, got it.”

“You can sleep if you want. It’s getting late.”

“We can finish this soon and go to bed? Yes, I totally agree.”

“You are unbelievable.”

“I know, I’m unbelievably yours.”

Jihyo just smiles, light and free, as Dahyun settles beside him, a little closer than before. They work quietly, among soft whispers and lingering touches, papa and mama Park are back at some point, both adults not quite there, just waving the boys good night and disappearing to their bedroom. It was late in the night when Dahyun got up to get both some more water, they were about done, just some formatting needed in the file, to come back and find Jihyo sleeping on the coffee table they had claimed. The pale boy just smiles and proceeds to tidy everything up, he saves the document and shuts down the computer, books and papers already piled neatly on said table.

Going to the gym with Jihyo everyday was probably the best and worst decision Dahyun had made in his life. The worst, because Jihyo was a gym freak, loved exercising intensely and never missed a single day (they would likely go tomorrow too, despite not getting that much sleep, and do some cardio). But it was the best decision he made, because the muscles he had built were the ones being used to help him carry Jihyo to his room, the boy was 160 cm of pure muscle and Dahyun was very happy to be able to carry him like this without much trouble, he could keep Jihyo in his arms forever and it wouldn’t be enough.


	8. Sunmi and the problem trio

To say Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo were a problem whenever they had to work together would be downplaying it by a lot. The three were a nightmare, and ms Lee always wondered which wrong life choices got her to have them as her students. The worst part for the poor woman was that they were geniuses and she knew she couldn’t afford to remove them from the club, not when they single handedly wiped the floor with their competition in nationals the previous year. It was like the trio was freshly out of tartarus just to terrorise her life, but they were great, what can one do.

Nayeon and Jeongyeon had met in middle school, they got into the science club in their first year (surprise, I know) and had been great friends since then. Jihyo came up as the opposing team’s champion on their first official competition. After the younger one had wiped the floor with the older two, who couldn’t stop bickering to save themselves, he waited for his teacher to get distracted and went to the other team. He was fascinated with Nayeon and Jeongyeon, so he just went to the, still bickering, duo and just hugged both really tight. To say the older two were surprised wouldn’t describe it, Nayeon let out a little squeal too, which he will never admit to.

When the small boy let go, neither could really get mad when they looked and saw Jihyo with his innocent and shiny eyes, looking at them like they were the most interesting people in the world. Jeongyeon cooed (a very rare occurrence) and Nayeon definitely squealed this time (this one he never denies, especially if it’s to point out how cute Jihyo is), both squeezed the small intruder between them and started fighting over who was hugging more of their new friend (Jeongyeon, surprisingly, was the one to declare they were friends right then and there). 

When the teacher responsible for Jihyo’s group found him, he let out a relieved sigh and a small laugh, despite having his life squished out of him, Jihyo looked absolutely delighted. The man just took a photo to give the boy’s parents later and called after his student, they had to get going. Nayeon, the more courageous of the two, stepped forward defying the unknown man who was trying to take his new friend away, Jeongyeon stood behind him, fists already up and snarling at the man. That was until Jihyo let out an excited ‘Mr Choi!’ and made his way over to the man.

“Park, you can’t go off like that. I was worried that you might have disappeared.”

“I’m sorry, mr Choi, but I just wanted to give them a hug. And now we are friends!”

The boy was known for being affectionate with people he liked, and him liking someone was completely arbitrary and unpredictable. Right now, for example, Jihyo liked Nayeon and Jeongyeon because he saw minds like his, and strong personalities to back them up, he liked seeing how the other two worked and understood perfectly how their brains worked, it was something he hadn’t seen before, and interested him immensely. The teacher just shook his head and told Jihyo to give the boys his number so they could go home.

“Mr Choi said we have to go now.” Jihyo said to the other boys shyly, handing them a piece of paper. “That’s my phone number, I’ll be waiting.”

“We’ll call you later. Have a safe trip.” Jeongyeon, always the more accomodating one, said, waving the smaller boy off.

“Shut up.” Nayeon said, trying to keep his sniffling low, a few moments after Jihyo had disappeared into the crowd.

Jeongyeon just throws his hands up and doesn’t say anything. They are called by their own teacher and just follow to go home. For the two older boys, the ride home was just too long, they wanted to get home, or Nayeon’s house, which was closer to school, and call that cute starry eyed boy and start being friends already. When they do call, mr Park is the one to answer, asking Jeongyeon (the one calling, because Nayeon was unable to) to wait a little as his son was in the bathroom. After they did have that one first conversation, Jihyo came running to his father, asking him to talk to a mrs Im about playing together.

The adults do settle things for a first playdate, it was to happen at the Parks, they had a big backyard and a barbecue area. Not to mention mr Park said the other parents should come too and they’d have a barbecue party, and mrs Im couldn’t say no to that. They both settled on the following saturday and the boys have been great friends since then. Sure, the Sons and their own boys came too, but both Nayeon and Jeongyeon understood, even at that young age, that their new friends were brothers to each other and inseparable already. 

They were very cute whenever they interacted, except and unfortunately for ms Lee, when they had to use their brains together. Sunmi was a great teacher and a good woman, but she was tethering on the edge of murdering three students and hiding the bodies in a desert every single time science club came around. Jihyo was the better manageable one, he would relent as soon as a valid point was made, Jeongyeon would be a little more difficult, but would settle down once he was proven wrong beyond doubt, but Nayeon, that kid was a nightmare, and the teacher was certainly not being paid enough to deal with him on a daily basis.

Nayeon was very prideful and usually wouldn’t stand down even after shown he was wrong. It took a lot to get him to settle down, and he would never just back down, usually they let it be and continued with whatever like nothing had happened. When things dd get out of control, the teacher knew she just needed to call over some strategic people and things would go back to normal. For Nayeon it was Mina, the younger boy had this power where he could just send the older one a specific look and smile and everything would go his way. For Jeongyeon, Tzuyu did the magic, it was a couple thing and nobody cared to understand as long as the shorter boy had been tamed.

In Jihyo’s case, there were two who could get him to settle, it was just a matter of who was available for the task. In Seungwan’s case, he would come in, do their thing and JIhyo would understand he was wrong and apologise, Dahyun, on the other hand, would follow a more ‘feelings focused’ approach, he would talk to the boy until they worked out whatever was wrong, then sit Nayeon and Jeongyeon down and force the three to talk and settle everything. Which prompted anyone who was calling for reinforcements to avoid Dahyun as much as they could, not that they didn’t like the boy, but his way of going through things would take too long, and all everyone just wanted was for the bickering to stop already.

Right now, we have ms Lee not as annoyed as she would be on the daily, it was nearing the sports competitions, so the problem trio was starting to miss science club meetings. All three were star athletes, and would be excused from science club when they were preparing for the first competitions (after the first ones, they knew where to go with their training and got back their normal schedules), the sameway they’d be excused from their respective sports clubs to focus on science club when the science competitions came around. Jihyo was attending today, the other two weren’t, and peace was really prevailing, until another student asked Jihyo a ‘stupid question’, as the boy had dubbed it, and everything went downhill.

The girl was already crying, ever since Jihyo had started his very angry and very mean explanation to the girl’s question. Sunmi had stepped out to deliver some documents, and came back to the calm completely destroyed, a whimpering girl sitting in front of the board and the most calm of her problem trio violently explaining some very basic organic chemistry to a very frightened group. She could already picture the girl batting her eyelashes and sliding up to Jihyo to ask a basic question she should know the answer to, only to get the full extent of the boy’s wrath.

It was understandable that Jihyo was on edge, he had just started slimming down, his coach asked if he could lose the weight to the category below, as some of the seniors would be joining in his current one and the coach felt like said seniors should be handed a better chance of victory and decided Jihyo was going to drop the weight to a lower category. It was ridiculous, Jihyo was pissed, and even Sunmi had stood up for the boy (behind closed doors, that is) but coach Zhen was a coward and had fallen under the pressure the seniors’ parents had put on him. But, understanding the boy didn’t mean Sunmi was excusing him, so she sent him out of the classroom and told him to come back after club hours for his punishment.

Nayeon was the one present the following meeting, Jihyo had been excused permanently until he got past the weighing phase. He would be able to relax a little after the first round’s winghing and would get much less irritable. The oldest of the problem trio, however, was bulking up, that meant he was absolutely sluggish and looked like he was about to fall asleep anywhere. Nayeon was in the basketball team, great player, but too thin on a normal basis to take the hit of the official games. His coach, coach Kim, was a middle aged woman who took care of her players like they were her own kids, and told Nayeon to bulk up a little more, least the boy would collapse in court again. It happened in Nayeon’s first game the previous year, and the woman would never let the boy live that down.

It took Jeongyeon about three more meetings to show up at the science club. He was on the track team and had been working on his endurance. He was the best sprinter, but wanted to try for long distance when his coach offered it to him. You could find him on the streets around the school with the other long distance runners on his team, but he did show up, a lot more tanned than before, and slightly tired, definitely hungrier as well. Sunmi just gave up on him and Nayeon eating during club hours and asked that they didn’t compromise experiments, which they never would, then she’d be fine with whatever.

Say what you want about Sunmi, but she loved her kids, and really missed her students whenever they were absent for longer periods. Sure, Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo were the main cause for her continuously depleting supply of medicine for headaches, but it got too quiet when they weren’t around.


	9. Chaeyoung should just accept it

When Chaeyoung met Sana, he was immediately enamoured with the foregin boy. But, in true Son fashion, he refused to admit to himself he felt anything beyond curiosity and a bit of gratitude, even if deep down he knew the curiosity and gratitude he felt for Mina and Nayeon, for example, was completely NOT what he was feeling for Sana. That’s how we have Heartbreak Chaeyoung back in the dating game, he was running from his real feelings in the worst way possible, and he knew it, but the other choice would be admitting he had fallen into the ‘love at first sight’ trap he always made fun of, and that was absolutely not the plan.

Contrary to middle school, however, Chaeyoung wasn’t the sought after bachelor he thought himself to be anymore. There were bigger fish in highschool and he became a slightly above average guy, sure his looks were nice, and he was getting out of his baby fat faster than the average boy, nothing that would turn heads, though. Not like Jihyo, Sooyoung or even Nayeon turned heads in silence wherever they went. And he wasn’t that good in people skills like Sana, Jeongyeon or Dahyun who not only had the looks, but the skills to gather a legion of followers.

Son Chaeyoung became that good looking freshman, but that was about it, and he would have to put a lot of effort into getting dates if he was going to get back in the player game. Seungwan had already warned him to not go there, because he would get his ass kicked by Sana himself if the japanese found out he was playing with the people he went out with. Yerim was also of no help, claiming he was on his own and heeding the same warning as Senungwan.

“What got you that angry?” Tzuyu asked, breaking his friend’s thoughts.

“You know how I was asked out back in middle school?”

“You are frustrated because now you actually have to work for it. But I thought you liked Sana, though?”

“I don’t even know him that well, I can’t like him.”

Tzuyu chuckled and looked forward, the two were heading to school and ran into each other on the way. They lived on the same street and had been nice friends for a while, so Tzuyu knew the Son brothers were prideful and stubborn, and if Chaeyoung was this deep in denial of his own feelings, there was little he could do to convince the boy otherwise. But there was a lot a certain nipponic transferee could do to stop this madness, and Tzuyu knew exactly how to nudge the pair in the right direction.

“I hate when you smirk like that.” Chaeyoung complained after the silent moment. “Whatever you are thinking about doing, don’t do it.”

“I don’t know what you could possibly be talking about. But I’m sure there is nothing you should worry about.”

“Don’t give me that fake innocence, Chou. It might work with Jeong and his sisters, but not with me.”

“Then listen up and listen well.” The taller boy hissed. “You are going to stop this nonsense you are about to get into and face your feelings. If you don’t, be sure I’ll fuck you up so good your only option will be moving abroad and getting a new identity.”

“Understood.” The small boy agrees immediately.

“Good.” Tzuyu smiles like nothing happened and continues forward.

The thing about Tzuyu that very few knew was that the boy could be ruthless and unstoppable when he swore vengeance on anybody. Chaeyoung had seen it once, a boy was making a bet with his friends about asking one of their friends out back in their first year of middle school, Tzuyu was really fond of the girl in question, she had helped him in the beginning of the year and he was thankful. There were news of an incident involving a hungry racoon, the boy’s locker and an empty and completely shut gym locker door. Nobody really knew exactly what happened, and the principal did his best to keep things under wraps.

Tzuyu was smiling wickedly for the rest of that period, and had offered to be the one to take the ‘get well soon’ card from the class to the boy in the hospital. His innocent face still gives Chaeyoung nightmares to this day, and he swore to never be on Tzuyu’s bad side in his life. The boy transferred even before he was out of the hospital and nobody knows what went down to this day. It took two years for Chaeyoung to realize nobody knew about the racoon, Tzuyu had been the one to say anything about it. That realization was brought on by one of that boy’s friends, in a gossip during gym class, something about nobody knowing a single detail of what had happened.

With this ultimatum, Chaeyoung was forced into facing his feelings, despite it being completely the opposite of what he wanted to do. Facing Tzuyu’s wrath and risking him fulfill his promises, Chou Tzuyu makes promises and issues warnings, he doesn’t make threats. All that’s left now is to face a certain Minatozaki Sana head on and deal with his wounded ego later.

Sana was found in the grass, under a big tree and surrounded by the cheerleading squad, which was more intimidating than it should have been. Still, with his other options cut short, Chaeyoung presses forward with his lunchbox, intent on trying to, at least, be friends with the older boy. The cheerleaders looked at him with murder in their eyes, but he just gulped dryly and stood his ground.

“Chaeyoung, right?” Sana greets brightly.

“Ye-yes.” The cub clears his throat. “I would like to thank you for the other day, and maybe eat lunch together?”

“It would be nice to talk without your guts pouring out, yes.” Sana jokes and the girls giggle around him. “Have a seat, Chae. You know the girls?”

“Of course I know them.” The younger boy perks up. “How could I not know the cheering squad?”

“You flatter us too much.” Elkie dismisses. “Many can’t tell us apart from the student body when we are out of our uniforms.”

“About that, I’ve been curious.” Chaeyoung can’t hold himself back. “Why don’t you girls wear your cheering uniforms all the time? Isn’t that like a thing for cheerleaders?”

The girls giggle, Elkie and Shuhua full on laugh, and Sana was doing his best to hold his laughter and look sympathetic. It didn’t work and the japanese just surrendered to giggling with the other girls. Chaeyoung was left baffled, not only he didn’t understand what was happening, apparently his knowledge of cheerleaders was comedic for these people. Once they were properly winded, Seunghee took upon herself to have pity on the lost boy and explain things better.

“I’m sorry, Chaeyoung. It’s just, we get this question a lot, but you were so innocent and excited when you asked that we all just found it adorable.”

The cub puffs his cheeks in annoyance but doesn’t say anything, Sana and the girls coo a little before the captain starts explaining.

“Usually, cheerleaders do wear their uniforms everywhere. But in this school, we do everything with our student IDs, from opening the bathroom door to buying lunch, so we don’t really need our uniforms to be identified.”

“That’s true.” Chaeyoung ponders.

“It’s actually a tradition in our school specifically, no athlete wears anything different on a daily basis. Only for competitions and rallies. What the former captain told me was because it avoids confrontations with other schools.”

“Now you have my full attention, miss Yeh.”

“It’s your first year, so you’ll find out soon. But competing against other schools isn’t just fun and games, more times than not, our rivals won’t go down and stay down.” Shuhua sighs, seems like she's had to face it too many times. “Some of said sportits will show up at our front gate with their jerseys and their lackeys demanding whatever team who just beat them to present themselves for a fight.”

“While said team just saunters out right beside them.” Elkie contributes. “And yes, it happens to the cheer competitions too, before you ask.”

“That’s actually a very smart policy. I was very curious as to why our teams usually wore just the normal uniform.”

“Well, Chaengie, the more you know.” Sana pats the boy’s head with a soft smile.

“Mind telling me why you all laughed, now?”

“That would be because we had a group of avengers by our gate like five minutes before you arrived.” Sorn pipes up with the gossip. “Sana is in the music club and their pre-competition showcases were yesterday. Seems like one of the other teams didn’t take it too well.”

“Oh, what do you play?” That was something the shorter boy didn’t expect.

“I play the flute, and it was really just a showcase, it’s customary we just play a piece and have some tea and cookies after.”

“What Sana here isn’t telling you, is that he killed the competition with Taffanel and the other teams didn’t take it too kindly.” Sorn has always been fine tuned to gossip and knew absolutely everything that happened within the school property. “So today we have a few angry musicians camping out front to beat him up.”

“What they also don’t know.” Eunbin, Sorn’s apprentice, jumps in. “Is that Sana could end them without breaking a sweat if push comes to shove.”

“Can we, plase, not talk about me fighting some bullies?” Sana pleads, trying to keep his skills from his new friend.

“Absolutely not.” Eunbin pushes. “You see, ChaeChae, Sana here is a black belt, and trust that he can end you with his thumb and make it look like you died of natural causes.”

“That’s an exaggeration and I’m not fighting anyone.” Sana whines, but the gossip ends right there. The girls knew when he was really getting annoyed. “Anyways, the reason behind not standing out is so that we can avoid these situations, and you girls are smuggling me out after clases.”

The bells rings as the girls start teasing Sana and Chaeyoung just laughs goodnaturedly, he had learned a lot more than he bargained for, and managed to get acquainted with the boy who captivated him effortlessly and manges to nudge him over the edge a little more with every action. The girls ask Chaeyoung if he’d like to go with them after classes, and the boy agrees, happy to spend more time with Sana. The trick, now, was dismissing Tzuyu and his brother without having to explain to them where he was going and much less with whom.

“So, you are telling me someone else decided it was a good idea to put up with you?” Tzuyu asks dryly by the end of classes.

“I’m a delightful person, excuse you.” Chaeyoung tries to hit his friend.

“Sure you are.” The taller boy pats the cub’s head. “Just remember the cheerleaders will end your life and make sure nobody even remembers you ever existed if you screw up.”

“How did- Wha- You know what, I’m not even gonna ask.”

“Good choice. And you have to be on the girls’ good side before you even think about anything with Sana.”

“I’m not gonna lie, those girls are crazy scary.”

“They probably already have your entire background dug up. And from everyone who has ever interacted with you. Which means I’ll have to explain to Elkie about the ferret incident last summer and she’ll never let me live it down.”

“And you know Elkie how? I thought you didn’t like other humans.”

“Correction, I don’t like most humans. And Elkie is my cousin, our mothers are sisters. And thanks to you and your whore ass, I have some bribing to do so she’ll let a few incidents die.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I’ll decide if you are forgiven after I talk to Elks. Now, go and get more whipped. Try not to die.”

Tzuyu leaves with that, his small friend unable to answer fast enough. Chaeyoung is thoroughly pissed with his friend, the tall boy always knew which buttons to press to get the reactions he wanted out of him. It was awful, but Chae loved his big pile of sap of a fiend who went by the name of Chou Tzuyu. A buzzing interrupts his musings and he just laughs at the text, before heading to the football field to tell his brother not to wait for him.

_ Big Baby TzuTzu: _

_ Stop thinking I’m cute! I’m a cruel, killing machine and you will think of me as one! _

It was very unexpected to not find Seungwan by the field and waiting for Joohyun to finish training, then again, competitions were about to start, and the sewing club must be chaotic already. Joohyun is good enough, so Chaeyoung moves to the edge of the field and signals to the other boy, who just nods at him, and sits on the bench to wait. A scramble later and Sooyoung calls for a water break.

“What did you do this time?” Are the first words out of the older boy’s mouth.

“I agreed to hang out after school. So I came to tell Wannie not to wait for me, but he’s likely at the sewing club and I’m not showing up there yet.”

“I’m taking you haven’t come up with anything yet.”

“Not a single sketch. And Jennie will castrate me if I show up there empty handed.”

“I’ll tell Wanda, don’t worry. You should really be working on your project, though.”

“I’ve been pulling all nighters for weeks already, nothing comes up.”

“Well, a break is good, then. Just make sure the cheerleaders don’t kill you.”

“How does everyone know that?” Chaeyoung lets out an indignant huff. 

“I have my sources. Now you better go, Shuhua is already looking over here and I don’t need her talking to me anytime soon.”

“Thanks, Joonie.”

Chaeyoung leaves after hugging his brother-in-law, true to Joohyun’s word, Shuhua was looking at the field with an expression that betrayed nothing and said a lot all at the same time. He just gulps and prays nothing bad will come of it, before making his way to another corner of the field where cheering practice was going on full steam. Sana, surprisingly, was there practicing his flute on the small bleachers (placed there to accommodate whichever club was using that patch of grass to practice). As they still had some time to kill before the outing, Chaeyoung just waves to the girls and takes a seat beside Sana, pulling out his sketchbook, if he was idle, might as well try and come up with something for his first design.

Each year, the sewing club would send in all students who wanted to enrol on whatever competition the school was taking part, this was the first of the season, almost the entire club had decided to enter, and a unique design should be submitted with their entrance, the theme for this first design was ‘the unexpected’ and Chaeyoung has been lost in his ideas since he had received the theme. But Sana was there, and he was playing beautifully, and Chaeyoung was thoroughly pleased with his life at that moment.

Once Shuhua called the boys, saying practice was over and the girls were just going to take a quick shower, Chaeyoung had a completed design on his sketchbook, with notes on fabrics, colors, everything.


	10. The unlikely pair

“Just leave it alone and pay attention to me.” Mina’s voice was soft but commanding, as always.

“He is looking at me funny.”

“Im Nayeon, you better concentrate on caressing my hair and do it properly or we’ll head home and have a conversation.”

Nayeon gulps but goes back to paying his full attention to Mina, the two were sitting under the big tree in the schoolyard, the one atop the small hill overlooking the football and the track fields, this school just had a too big grass area for sports, but that’s not what’s important here. Nayeon and Mina hadn’t had too much time together with the first rounds of competition of the year approaching, and the older boy would be too tired after practice to be able to manage much more than homework after. So Mina came up with the demand for them to come earlier and spend time together before class.

That was what they were doing, until a squirrel climbed down the tree and Nayeon swore it was taunting him. It wasn’t the first time the older boy decided to exert revenge on random things and animals because ‘they were looking at him funny’, Mina usually found it incredibly amusing, but it was getting in the way of him receiving cuddles and he had to get Nayeon to pay attention to him only. Plus, Nayeon never won when he decided to go after the animals he decided were taunting him, the decision was completely arbitrary and never predictable, and after the last time he went after a goose, got bitten and had to be rushed to the hospital for stitches, Mina decided it was time to control his man.

“You know, Mina.” Nayeon starts and gets a humm in acknowledgement. “It would make me very happy and honored if you would accept me as your boyfriend.”

Mina’s eyes shoot open and he sits up immediately. Sure, they had talked about it many times, and they loved being together but he could never have guessed Nayeon would pop this question in a situation like this. However, it was exactly something Nayeon would do, and Mina’s heart swelled because he knew the older boy had been trying to create a perfect moment to ask. What would be more perfect than the two boys sitting under a cherry tree in the early hours of the morning, with the sun painting everything soft golden and just the two of them in that place.

“Yes.” Is all Mina says before crashing their lips together.

Nayeon is surprised but is quick to respond, snaking his arms around the other boy’s torso and pulling him closer. Mina was brimming with happiness and excitement, it felt like a proposal, might just have been, and the boy didn’t care. They stayed like that for who knows how long, but Jeongyeon, in true Jeongyeon’s fashion, had to be running past them and made it a point to go over and break the moment. The track team had their long distances training early mornings as well as after classes, and the tree was at the end of the morning route.

“You know, you two better mind your surroundings for these activities.”

“Keep running, Jeong.” Mina snarls.

The runner just chuckles and leaves, not forgetting the mandatory wolf whistle as he retreats. Nayeon chuckles and Mina sighs, both too happy for words and still basking in each other. The japanese is the first one to move, they had to start heading to classes, or they’d have to walk fast, then get sweaty and Myoui Mina hates getting sweaty in his daily uniform. Yes, the guy was weird, but he smelled great tho. Reluctantly, Nayeon allows himself to be pulled up, placing a humorous peck on Mina’s lips when the younger reminds him to leave the squirrel alone, and pulling him closer by the shoulders.

How did the pair get together? It was rather simple, and weird, it’s Mina and Nayeon we are talking about here. On their last year of middle school, Nayeon’s basketball team had a game against Mina’s school, as the school hosting the game, all students were asked to attend and Mina had absolutely nothing better to do (he totally was not stalling with his homework), so he complied and went to the court. There were quite a few people already, and Mina had zero intentions on staying until the end, so he got a place in the lower bleachers, close to the visiting crowd.

Once the players entered, Mina was drawn to a heart-shaped smile with the cutest bunny teeth, he was following player number nine ‘Im’ the entire game, once it was over and the boy walked over to the bench, in all his sweaty and rugged glory breathing heavily and looking like a five course meal. To one very hormonal Myoui Mina, that is, one who raised from his seat, marched straight to the ‘Im’ boy who was slightly scared and his friends ready to fight for him, stopped exactly the right distance away (it amazes Nayeon to this day) to bow deeply while shoving a piece of paper on the boy’s chest, with a quickly scribbled note and a phone number, before raising and running away with the reddest face Nayeon had seen in his life.

Needless to say, Nayeon had the hardest time from his friends after that, even the coach had thrown a few teasings here and there on the way back. The pretty boy who was shy but brave peaked his interest and he called once he had gotten home and taken a shower. They talked until mrs Im came to yell at her son to hang up and go to sleep. Both boys said their goodbyes reluctantly and agreed to talk again the next day. Neither had left the other’s side after that. The memories of that day never failed to bring a fond smile to the boys faces.

It was P.E., the students in athletic clubs were excused from exercising, but still had to sit in for the class. And here we have Nayeon and Jeongyeon changing to get to the gym, both were excused but both also hated getting their daily uniform dirty, so they put on the P.E. uniform regardless. Both boys and Jihyo were never put on the same classes, an agreement between the teachers, but the older duo’s classes coincided for this one thing, it was the teacher’s fault for not paying attention and he’d have to live with it for the year.

“Why is your back like that?” Jeongyeon asks, seeing his friend's back completely scratched.

Nayeon pauses a little before shoving his shirt in and replying. “I’m having an affair.” Then scuries out of the locker room.

“No you are not.” Jeongyeon slams both lockers shut before dashing out behind his friend. “Im Nayeon, get back here and answer me!”

The gym teacher was already feeling the growing headache when he saw trouble number one hurry out, then there was a scream from trouble number two and now problem child #2 was chasing problem child #1 around the court and he could only blame himself for putting both together. One would think Jeongyeon had the advantage with being in the track team and all, but Nayeon was on the basketball team, they ran just as much, the difference was they ran in a smaller space, so both were pretty matched. Which spurred Jeongyeon to run faster, he couldn’t have his pride as a track racer be wounded like that by a basketball boy.

The teacher just told the class to leave the two alone, they’d stop when they got tired, or when the bell rang, whichever came first. And proceeded with his class. The two were getting exercise anyways, no point adding to his already pounding headache. What does happen first, is that the bell rings first, in this school it rang fifteen minutes before the next class for P.E., so the students had time to change or shower and not be late for the next class. That was when Nayeon and Jeongyeon halted two courts away from where they were supposed to be with their teacher, the girls were having the time of their lives (they had ran straight through their game and didn’t even notice it). Sure enough, the girls’ P.E. teacher would certainly have some choice words with the boys’ teacher soon.

“Are you going to tell me the truth now?” Jeongyeon asks on the way to the cafeteria.

Once P.E. was over, Nayeon took a quick shower, through which he screamed the entire time, and disappeared before Jeongyeon could manage his own washing up and get the older boy to tell him everything. Now, after texting the conveniently created group chat that involved Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Tzuyu, Mina, Jihyo, Dahyun, Seungwan and Joohyun, the taller boy was giving his friend a chance to tell him before they got to the table their group was waiting at. Nayeon, obviously, didn’t and was hoping Mina would spare him this time (Mina didn’t).

“Hey, handsome.” Nayeon greets, sliding next to his boyfriend and kissing his cheek before turning to the others. “Hello, my lovely children.”

“What did he do this time?” Jihyo asked Jeongyeon, who had taken his place beside Tzuyu.

“I asked Mina to be my boyfriend this morning, that’s what I did.” Nayeon answers with a kick to the big eyed boy’s shin.

“Finally!” Dahyun pipes up. “Now pay up, losers.”

Begrudgingly, Jihyo, Tzuyu, Jeongyeon and surprisingly Mina pull their wallets and drop the money on Dahyun’s outstretched hand. Seungwan and Joohyun weren’t there, but the pale boy would make sure to get his payment as soon as possible. 

“Why were you all betting on this?” Nayeon would be mad, but it was his out from talking about his back.

“Nay, we all knew you were the one who wanted to ask, so I let you.” Mina chuckles and kisses his cheek, for good measure. “But I wanted to make things fun and started a bet with Hyo, who told Jeong, who told Tzu, who answered on speaker and Dubs heard and wanted in. The others came later.”

“Hold up, you are telling me that more people bet on this?”

“And I’m very happy you asked, but if you did it last week I would have won and would have enough money to take you to that fancy burger place that just opened up.” Mina soothes his boyfriend with a quick kiss.

Nayeon humms contently and settles with his lunch. Everything seemed to be going well, until Jeongyeon remembered his first question and brought it up again.

“Alright, grandpa. Out with it.” 

“I don’t think it’s coming out anytime soon, sorry.” Nayeon answers, gesturing to his food.

“Ew. Right in front of my salad?!” Dahyun complains.

“You are eating a burger.” Mina says, unamused. “And what are you talking about, Jeong?”

“Your boy’s back is completely scratched. When I asked about it in P.E. he said he was having an affair, so I’m guessing he made a fool of himself again.”

Mina’s eyes light up and his expression darkens at the same time, the mischievous glint everyone who knows the boy fears is there, and the others gulp nervously.

“So you went back there.” The penguin sounds calm and ominous. “We are going to have a nice talk later.”

“I’ll gladly accept my punishment if you don’t tell anyone what this is about.” The eldest begs.

“Anything I come up with?” 

“As long as you don’t reveal the reason behind my scratches.”

“Deal.” Mina brightens instantly and turns to the other two. “Nayeon is having an affair.”

Jeongyeon groans and starts begging to know, Dahyun just looks on in doubt, but the pale boy had his own way of finding out what happened. Nayeon breathes a little more easily, knowing his old friend won’t find out about his lost fight to that disrespectful but incredibly skilled squirrel. And Mina is distractedly finishing his lunch, thinking about all the fun he’s going to have with Nayeon later, and over the weeked, his parents are going out of town on wednesday and not come back until monday.

All the while, Jihyo and Tzuyu had been minding their own business, the big eyed boy had seen the entire battle between his friend and the critter and had already told Tzuyu all about it. The taller one, in turn, had promised Jeongyeon would never know about it unless he got it out of Nayeon or Mina, they all knew Mina was not to be toyed with, and if he said something didn’t happen, it didn’t happen and that was that.


	11. Jihyo and his strays

Park Jihyo was a boy with big eyes, big voice, and an even bigger heart. His small stature just made him a cute, cuddly teddy bear, despite being extremely in shape as a gym rat and wrestler. His parents had problems with the boy’s kindness ever since he could move on his own, but they never complained, they love their little boy and just try to work around his impulses most times.

When Jihyo was two, he came home from daycare without his pacifier and hungry, when mrs Park asked what happened, he answered that there was this little girl whose mom couldn’t pack her lunch and just sent her a choco milk, so he traded his own food with the girl’s milk because her tummy was making noise. Then he gave his pacifier to another boy that didn’t have one and couldn’t sleep during nap time. The woman controlled her tears the best she could, asked her son if he wanted another pacifier, to which he answered it was okay without one. After she properly fed the toddler and put him to sleep, she told mr Park and both parents spent the rest of the night with teary eyes and warm hearts.

This kind of behaviour just continued, small gestures of kindness that usually went unnoticed but always appreciated. Once he was four, Jihyo walked across a pile of trash bags with his dad, coming back home from preschool, and heard a small whimper. He immediately stopped and ran to the noise, finding a small puppy in a piece of cardboard (not even a proper box) and immediately cradled the little dog and started crying. Mr Park had no other option but to take the pup home, despite the family not being able to raise it, mrs Park explained to her son they would take the puppy to the doctor and make sure it was alright, then they’d have to find a new home for it.

It worked, maybe too well, because as soon as they arrived at the vet’s office, there was a teenage girl crying because her dog had to be put down, Jihyo waddled over and started petting the girl’s head, who looked up and saw big, kind eyes looking at her in worry. When the boy asked what was the problem, she explained her dog was very sick and couldn’t come back home with her anymore (obviously she didn’t have the heart to say her dog died to a small kid), then Jihyo waddled back to his parents, got the puppy and brought it to the girl, telling her they needed to find a friend to the puppy and that it could be her friend if she wanted. Who would have the coldness to deny such an eager request from a little boy with starry eyes, certainly not that girl. And that’s how Jihyo helped his first stray.

By the age of six, everyone who worked at the local animal shelter already knew Jihyo on a first name basis, he had been granted his own employee pass despite not ever working there. Mrs Park started researching how to help strays after the third one her boy had brought home, and found the local shelter would take them, then she started taking Jihyo there whenever he brought a stray home, then the boy started asking to go to the shelter and play with the animals on the weekends, and it went from there. It has been two years now, and despite the little extra expense with getting all the animals they found through a check up and vaccinated before delivering them to the shelter, and also contributing with their food every week, but nothing they couldn’t handle.

At the age of ten, Jihyo was walking home from school, he had been allowed to walk to and from on his own, one his parents would follow him from a little distance everyday, and heard a cat, very weakly, around some bushes. He dove right in, mrs Park was the one following him that day and was much more calm than her husband, so she just waited a little to see if the boy would be able to get out on his own. Once little Jihyo did emerge, he was holding a big Chartreux, it’s usually lustrous fur a dull and muddy grey, the normally bright eyes, a dim yellow and looking like it was holding on by a thread. Mrs Park decided to pretend to run into the boy and help him out already.

“Hey, Ji.” She greeted casually. “What do you have there?”

“Hey mom.” The boy was struggling a little to hold the cat and his school bag. “I just found this guy in those bushes.”

“How about I take your bag so you can hold him better?” She asked and gently helped her son. “He doesn’t look too good, so we are taking him straight to the vet, okay?”

“Okay. But you promise he will be alright?”

“You know I can’t tell, you have to ask dr Kim about that.”

“I will, mom.” The boy struggled a little to get up the step to the house. “Can I just go to the bathroom before we leave?”

“Sure you can. No need to hurry, I’ll call your dad to tell him where we are going.”

“Thanks, mom.”

While Jihyo goes take care of his business, mama Park calls her husband while she prepares something for them to eat while they are at the vet. Jihyo will always refuse to leave before the doctor comes out and allows him to see whichever stray he had brought in. She also got another shirt for the kid, the one he was wearing was muddy from holding the cat close. Looking at it better, this one was an older cat, looking very abused, she didn’t excuse it, but understood abandoning the little ones, but getting rid of an animal that you lived with for years already, that was a whole new level of shitty in her book.

It had been a while since they started helping strays, and both parents had come to a place in their careers where they got more stable hours and a better pay, mama Park was really torn this time around, don’t get her wrong, she felt deeply for the babies, but she felt worse for this older cat. It hit her stronger than it had before, and the woman made the decision to keep this one. She texted her husband about it while they were waiting to be seen, and he said he was fine with it, Jihyo was caring to any animal that they would come across regardless, and it was a good time to get the boy a friend to take care of.

That’s how the Parks got their first cat, a lovely ball of grump called Bomb. In a few months, Jihyo would meet the human version of Bomb in the form of Yoo Jeongyeon, and both friend and cat would become inseparable, to the point the boy would steal the cat sometimes, when it had been a while since they had seen each other last. Jihyo always beats his friend up whenever it happens, and Seungyeon is the one to tell him where the cat is. Whenever Jeongyeon shows up full of bruises and walking funny, nobody even questions anymore, they just appreciate Jihyo’s handywork.


	12. Tzuyu, the underestimated mastermind

Chou Tzuyu, the name that brought awe and weariness to those who heard it. He was known to be an underestimated genius, he had kept his grades on the top three all his life, was masterful with a bow and had proven himself to be skilled on the runway as well (courtesy of a very whiny Chaeyoung without a model), an all around skillful gentleman, who had decided to dedicate his life to his family, loved ones and animals. It was a noble cause, and his parents would support him no matter what, but some people, namely his teachers, found it a waste that the boy preferred to spend his afternoons volunteering on the local animal shelter instead of joining some club to get trophies for the school.

Mr and mrs Chou never failed to be questioned avery single parent-teacher meeting as to why weren’t they making their son take up an extracurricular activity, joining a club or something, to which the couple always answered that he was, it just wasn’t something that would ‘bring pride to the school name’ as they’d disgustedly put it. Their boy knew what he wanted, and he was taking a voluntary internship on the local shelter as an extra boost for his college application and they were all for it. The teachers never understood when a kid was so certain of their own path, and mama and papa Chou had long given up trying to get them to see.

Tzuyu, however, was working hard to make connections, get some hands-on experience whenever he could and still kept his grades, love life and social life all up to date. There was no argument for the “adults” to complain about him, and those who did, would change their minds fairly easily. What very few people knew, however, was that Chou Tzuyu was a known name in various social spheres, his connections ran deep and wide and would never fail him, for one reason or another. He was a social guy, just didn’t like dealing with shallow people, so most of his highschool companions were out of his socialization plans.

“Hey, Tzu!” The receptionist at the shelter greets. “The dr needs you to run errands today, she’s with Sirius and Pollux.”

“Thanks, Mark.” The boy says, before heading to the back.

Sirius and Pollux were two saint-bernards, Tzuyu believes they were also related to a bull because the dogs were enormous, taken in after their owner got into a terrible accident and forced into an induced coma without a date to wake up. The owner went to the same college as Jackson, the shelter’s owner, and he just went to the station right after he heard of the accident and demanded to take responsibility for the dogs. Jackson wasn’t really close with the girl who owned the dogs, they knew each other through some friends of friends, but he couldn’t just leave animals in need alone.

“Yubinnie, I have arrived.” Tzuyu announces to the resident veterinarian.

“I told you to stop calling me that, Chou.” The woman fake mocks.

“I’m sorry, dr Kim.” He continues to tease.

“It’s dr Wang and I never know how I haven’t beat you up yet.” Yubin scolds.

Tzuyu just laughs, raising his bag to signal he was going to change before he starts working. Kim Yubin, she was the veterinarian that opened the shelter with Jackson, they were college sweethearts and once the young man got the property from his grandfather he decided he was going to put his management degree to help those that couldn’t fend for themselves, took the house that was already built there, added a big shed at the back and started taking lost animals in. Yubin promised she would put her degree to work in the shelter as soon as she completed her required residency and the couple had been working hard since the day the shelter opened.

Tzuyu started frequenting the shelter since he and his parents moved to the neighborhood, Jihyo was also a regular, and for much longer than Tzuyu. But while Tzuyu was there every day to work and learn the craft from Yubin, Jihyo wasn’t that frequent, he’d come in during weekends and do as much as he could, but mostly manual labor, he’d also show up ever-so-often with a stray he found. It was nice, the staff was lovely and they worked with practiced ease around each other, Tzuyu loved it, and his parents (both rather successful in their careers) didn’t mind their boy donating his time like that, Jeongyeon got it too, which was part of the reason the taiwanese accepted his dating proposal gladly.

Despite popular belief, it’s really hard for animals to be adopted, most people want cute, bred-to-order, ‘certified origin’ puppies. So, every saturday, Tzuyu would jump out of bed early, one of his parents would drive him to the shelter, sometimes he’d catch a ride with Jihyo, and set to work as soon as he arrived at the shelter. He would wash all the animals, the ones that needed washing, brush the ones he didn’t and get everyone adoption ready, then Tzuyu would proceed to raid the shelter’s kitchen and make some cookies for the visitors, Jihyo taught him how to make a lot with not much and how to save on ingredients. When the shelter did open to take visitors, everything was already set so he could play his persuasion game.

If Chou Tzuyu was anything, he’d be observant, he knew people liked his face and height, and that his innocent doe looking eyes were very persuasive, so the boy would comb his hair neatly, spray a little perfume and get into a pristine shelter uniform then roam around and look at the visitors. Whenever he saw a potential adoption waiting to happen he’d put on his most innocent and harmless face and make his way to the people he was going to convince to take an animal home. The adoption rates for the shelter had skyrocketed after Tzuyu started his strategy and neither Jackson nor Yubin were going to stop the boy, even if the cookies got a little heavy on the budget. It worked and the couple could only watch on fondly as their favorite boy (don’t tell Jihyo) did his magic.

“Hey, Tzu.” Speaking of Jihyo… “Sorry I’m late, I had to get to my morning run before coming.”

“Hyo!” Tzuyu greets back animatedly. “Don’t worry, the regionals are close, aren’t they?”

“Two weeks, and I still have to drop five kilos.” Jihyo looks paler and more tired than usual.

“You know you could just not compete, right? I mean, nobody would blame you and what the coach is doing is just bull-”

“Language!” The older boy chides. “And I know. Thing is, nobody really cares about regionals, I want those who wanted to fight me to know I was put on the category below, I’m dropping out before interstates, word will have gone around by then and I can make the coach understand that what he did was just wrong.”

“Now that is mr Park Jihyo for you.” Yubin had reached the boys and decided to join the conversation. “It’s good that you are willing to stand up against it. Sunmi told me about your coach’s stunt, I’m all for your plan, just so you know.”

“Thanks Binnie.” The wrestler hugs the doctor happily. “I just don’t enjoy being disrespected like this, make sure you come to the first match of interstate, it’s going to be a show.”

“I do hope it is. Save me a seat too.” Tzuyu pipes up. “Now go and look prim and proper, it’s adoption day and we are a deathly combo I’m not willing to waste.”

Jihyo just chuckles but moves to the dressing room to get changed too. He knew he could pull off the helpless middle schooler when he wanted to, he just will never admit that to Tzuyu and hear him mock his height for months again. And that’s how we have our resident greco-roman fighter dressing up with baggy clothes, putting on his glasses instead of contacts and swiping his hair back with some hair gel. Jihyo looked absolutely adorable whenever he dressed like that and Tzuyu, Jackson, Yubin, mama and papa Park, Seungwan, Dahyun and Joohyun would end the day with a few hundred new pictures on their phones.


	13. Study session & Herbert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If yall don't know Herbert, shame on you. And go get to know him right this instant!

Adoption mornings were fun and all, but Jihyo had to work on his science club material, the first competition was right before the first fight, and neither Nayeon or Jeongyeon had been attending club meetings that much lately. That’s how we find our working duo on the way back to Jihyo’s house, Jeongyeon had demanded they start studying together and, frankly, he was right. And Jihyo’s house was not only bigger, his parents had made a small study room for them to use as they needed, it had a library table, a few bookshelves with a lot of useful material and two computers with a printer for them to use.

It was the obvious choice to go there, really. Tzuyu was always happy to visit Jihyo’s house, Bomb was so much fun, and he didn’t get the chance to play with the cat that often. Nayeon was spending the weekend with Mina, who tagged along and said he’d use the time to get his own homework done while he waited. Jeongyeon was already waiting for them with Dahyun, who he met on the way over and decided to drag along, good thing the pale boy managed to get his school bag before being kidnapped (Joohyun just waved from the couch, that traitor).

“Hey kids, hope you didn’t wait long.” Jihyo greets as he approaches with his companion.

Dahyun and Jeongyeon are a little stunned at first, but they waste no time in whipping out their phones and snapping away. Jihyo was still wearing his morning outfit, he never stored used clothes, and there was no point changing out of them if he was just heading home. Tzuyu was also in his uniform almost for the same reason, the fact he loved Jihyo’s shower and was meaning to take full advantage of it was not to be mentioned. But, come on, it was one of those showers that had jets from the walls too and his entire body received the warm water with a very nice pressure, one can’t blame him.

“Oh, Micchan, hurry!” Nayeon’s voice was heard from behind as the photoshoot continued. “Ji is looking cute and we can’t miss this.”

Mina, who was lagging behind a little, laughed but hurried his steps, it was a rare sight (except for Tzuyu) to have Jihyo wear oversized clothing and his glasses like that, and nobody should waste such an opportunity. The wrestler just accepted it and was striking some poses for his friends, Dahyun had already received the other photos from his tall friend and they weren’t about to share their collection just like that. So, these peasants can just get their own clicks.

Once Jihyo does get tired, he kicks everyone inside and goes up to take a shower himself, Tzuyu had grown tired in the first five minutes and welcomed himself to shower first. The others head to the study room, Jeongyeon and Dahyun stop by the kitchen to get water for everyone, Jeongyeon grabs some snacks for good measure, and they head up with Bomb following. The cat was the second coming of Jeongyeon, and both seemed to know it even if nobody pointed it out, and stuck together at most times. What? Both knew they needed some me time too.

The boys got to work, it was still too early for them to have lunch, and the competing trio wanted to get right to it. It was nice, Mina had perched himself in an armchair by the shelves, looking like an idiot while trying to balance his binder, book and the reference book he got from the shelf. Dahyun, nobody understood but worked for him so they let him be, had taken his shirt off and was laying with his stomach on the cold tiles near Mina, enough distance so when the penguin fell he wasn’t getting hit, with everything he was using scattered around him. And Tzuyu was on the opposite end of the table as the problem trio, the only one looking like a proper student to be very honest, with Bomb on his lap and stroking the cat’s fur absentmindedly.

Our chemist competidors found themselves taking half of the fairly big table, sharing notes, books and comments as they brainstormed through their learning process. It was impossible to follow any line of thought whenever they got like that if you weren’t one of the three. Nayeon, surprisingly, was the one who observed the most, only giving his input when he found necessary, Jihyo was a note freak, writing down everything then proceeding to use his colored pens to connect and make sense of whatever he wrote. Jeongyeon, however, was a mumbler, he’d mumble constantly under his breath, which was really just him talking to himself, and then speak a little louder so his companions would hear once he arrived at a conclusion.

Lunch break only happened because Tzuyu had been sensible enough to set an alarm and make it loud enough to disrupt everyone. Jihyo and Dahyun set out to make them all something to eat, Mina volunteered himself and Nayeon to do the dishes after and that left Jeongyeon and Tzuyu to set the table and then clean it after they were done. While they were waiting, however, Nayeon and Mina went to the back for some sun and fresh air, Jeongyeon decided to follow after he was done setting the table with Tzuyu, who went to sit on the breakfast bar to observe the cooking happening.

Not even ten minutes later, there was a loud clash of metal, Nayeon screaming like he was dying, Jeongyeon’s ahsmatic laughter and Mina’s beautiful giggles. Obviously, the resident dumbass was up to no good and the three in the kitchen weren’t about to miss it, all already getting their phones ready to record. Nobody was surprised seeing Nayeon wrestling Herbert near the trash cans, Jihyo had honestly forgotten about him, but was glad he didn’t warn the eldest, this was prime entertainment right here. Even Bomb had abandoned his sunny corner in the living room and came to watch, and the boys could swear the cat was laughing as obnoxiously as Jeongyeon at that moment.

The fight went on for a little while, with Herbert properly messing up Nayeon before sauntering off somewhere. Not before flaunting his victory around and stopping to tease Bomb, who followed shortly after. The group had stopped recording once Herbert decided it was enough, Mina took his time walking over to his boyfriend, though, giving him time to sulk a little before he rubbed the utter defeat on his face a little more. People don’t really know this, but Mina is a sadistic asshole, Nayeon was the only one able to handle his urges because the eldest took being the but of the jokes unbothered, it satisfied the need Mina had to have his partner humiliated and Nayeon didn’t mind the jokes, most of the time.

What people also don’t know, however, is that making fun of Nayeon was a privilege to the couple’s loved ones. If you weren’t a member of Mina’s very select group who was allowed the privilege, the quiet boy will spare no effort in thoroughly ending your life. No, Mina doesn’t get anyone killed, but with what he did, dying would have been a better out. The Myouis were that kind of family, and Mina learned the craft religiously until perfect. But these people right here were their friends, Mina loved them with all his heart and knew their loyalty lies with him, these four could make as much fun of his man as their hearts desired.

“How about you stop being a hot headed, sore loser and get up so Jihyo can lend you some clothes, then you’ll shower and I’ll patch you up.”

“I’m not a sore loser.” Nayeon pouts, it’s adorable.

“Sure, not up.” 

Mina pulls his boyfriend to his feet, Nayeon winces a little at the movement, that devil managed to draw blood, and limps back into the house. Jihyo runs down to help the injured, doing his best to keep the giggles to a minimum, Nayeon tries to hit him, but the blood on his arm had dried a little and it hurt when he moved. 

“Come on, Nay. Stop trying to get into more trouble.” The wrestler laughs goodnaturedly. “And I’m days away from competing, you know it’s a bad idea to get hit by me right now.”

Nayeon grumbles a little more, but stops trying to hit his friend, and Jihyo was right, he was always his strongest at these times, not to mention he had been increasing muscle since he was told to drop a category, just so he could bulldoze his way to interstate and make his show even more entertaining. Mina was supporting his boyfriend from the other side and just laughed quietly, the powerplay between Jihyo, Jeongyeon and Nayeon was always pleasing, even when the eldest won, their battles never failed to play into Mina’s kinks. Not that anyone would know of that (Nayeon knew but was a great actor).

“Right, into the shower with you, grandpa.” Jihyo guides the couple to his bathroom. “I’ll be right back with some clothes for you.”

“Thanks, Hyo.” Mina answers for them.

“Just so you know, that’s Herbert.” Jihyo offers, coming back with fresh clothes. “I think he’s having an affair with Bomb.”

“See, even more reason for me to teach him a lesson!” Nayeon tries.

The other two just laugh at that. Jihyo asks Mina to help Nayeon shower as he leaves to find some bandages and ointment, some antiseptic too, for good measure. Nayeon screamed even more when Mina started cleaning his wounds, the shower itself was quick, the hard part (for the couple, because Mina did hate seeing his boyfriend getting hurt, despite everything) was tending to the various scratches and bruises all over Nayeon’s back and arms. Jihyo helped a lot, being used to treat this kind of injury, greco-roman was much more brutal than just grappling.

Dahyun had recruited Tzuyu to finish their lunch while Nayeon was being taken care of, once the three came back down they ate and went back to studying, the rest of the afternoon went by rather peacefully, no more accidents, Bomb came back at some point, looking very ravished but there was a silent agreement to not acknowledge it. Around five, the group broke, each to their own destination, Dahyun invited Jihyo over to his place, to which the older boy agreed and proceeded to make an overnight bag that was completely unnecessary as both boys already had their own space in each other’s closets. 

Mina changed his plans and made it into a night of coddling Nayeon, who was too wounded for his liking and deserved to be pampered at all times, but especially when he was hurt. Jeongyeon and Tzuyu had received a message from papa Chou, saying he wanted to take the two of them out, they went by Jeongyeon’s to get his suit and whatever else he felt he needed to sleep over before heading to the Chou residence for what was certain to be a fancy dinner with too much food and a few digestive remedies after.


	14. Kang Seulgi, the lord's peace incarnate

Most people say Kang Seulgi is slow, he is a great player and an outstanding athlete, but slow on anything else. To those who knew him on a surface level, that is. Yerim would argue that Seulgi just never wasted energy on things that didn’t interest him, and that was very true, he just never spent more than necessary on anything he didn’t deem important. Seulgi was a great student, his grades always at the top, maybe not like Jihyo or Nayeon or Jeongyeon who were always switching between the top three, but he was never below the top fifteen. 

He was also a charitable boy, but his heart went out to those in need, and he’d spend a lot of his free time helping at the homeless shelter, Yerim often got lonely because of that, the younger boy couldn’t volunteer that much because he was one of those who needed to study a lot to keep his grades, so cramming came first, and it was alright, they managed. Seulgi knew it was important to keep their grades up and didn’t mind going over to Yerim’s house and just study the entire time, sometimes Yeri was the one over at his house, but the Kang residence was usually noisy and not that great for studying, Seulgi’s mom was a landscaper, she had retrofitted their garage to make it her workshop and boy, did that woman like power tools.

They didn’t really have to worry about neighbors, their house was the last one on the street, which was a no exit street, and they were the ones who closed it off, there was a lot of space between their garage and the neighbor’s house, not to mention mr Choi’s garage was beside their, and that put more distance between the house and the source of noise. Mama Kang did make the walls as soundproof as possible, but there was only so much they could keep in, and her tools were heavy duty, that meant rather loud for most part. Seulgi loved his mother, but the woman did tend to get lost on her crafts more often then not.

Papa Kang, in turn, was an excitable kid despite his graying hair, probably where Seulgi got all his energy, the two guys could run a marathon and still be up for a light jog through the entire course right after. The old man looked about a decade younger than he was, mama Kang too, and both were the most patient people you will meet in your life, seriously. They can sit through a five-hour observation of grass growing and say it was exciting, which brings us to Seulgi growing up to be a saint and most likely the only one capable of managing Kim Yerim, the devil’s spawn as he was often known.

Right now, for example, we have Seulgi still studying and Yerim and Chaeyoung in an animated competition to see who could jump farther from the bench they were supposed to be sitting and studying at. They had decided to go to the park today, it was a nice and cool sunday, the sun was out but not too warm, there was an eventual breeze to help keep them cool, Seulgi was the one to suggest going out and getting that vitamin D fill. Everything was going well, Yeri had just ran out twice so far, and Seulgi still hadn’t taken out the first aid kit, until Chaeyoung called, that is. 

Seulgi loved Chaeyoung, but he had to admit the boy was as dramatic as they come, with a worrying tendency to over-exaggerate every single minor inconvenience. He still remembers having to drag a passed out Chaeyoung to the nurse’s office because of a damn splinter, but he loved the boy regardless. Today Chaeyoung called them a couple hours into their studying session, claiming his world was ending, Yeri told him to come and meet them, but bring his schoolbag because they were definitely studying. Upon arrival, the couple discovered Chaeyoung’s world ending meant he hadn’t caught a glimpse of your friendly neighborhood japanese hippie, Minatozaki Sana.

Seulgi knew Sana really well, both being kind and patient in nature, but whilst Sana was extremely shy, Seulgi was very forward. They had spent a lot of time together volunteering around town, and soon became friends, even coordinating where they were volunteering and when so they could go together. The younger boys talked for a while and then started running around, probably Yeri said something that was true but Chaeyoung didn’t need at the moment, and now they are jumping just because. Seulgi will patch them up every now and then, cuts and scratches were normal with this duo, but continued studying like a hurricane wasn’t raging around him, well two hurricanes.

“Mom told us to get back home for lunch.” Seulgi tells the younger boys, putting his phone away. “You too, Chaeng.”

“Oh, it’s this late already?” Chaeyoung asks, wiggling out from beneath Yeri. They were fighting now.

“Yes, and we are going back to have lunch. Come on, mom said lunch is almost ready.”

Then Seulgi proceeds to untangle the troublemakers and check if they are hurt, not seeing anything too wrong, he just pats both clean and proceeds to gather their things. Yeri and Chaeyoung are still jumping around and not helping at all. Our bear slings their bags over his shoulder, grabs both the kids’ hands and heads back home, if he wasn’t holding those two close to him, they would have ran into traffic already. Just another day in his life with his cute and energetic boyfriend.

“I can call Sana and ask if he wants to come over, you know.” Seulgi offers, as they are waiting to cross the street.

“It’s alright, Seul. I’m just venting, it’s not like we are like  _ friends _ friends yet.” Chaeyoung says sincerely. “It’s just, you know when you found the right one and wants everything to just happen right away?”

“I know exactly what you are talking about.” The taller boy smiles warmly, glancing at Yerim, who was now freed and playing on the sidewalk of Seulgi’s street. “Bot don’t hesitate to make your move, though. Sana may seem bright and unbothered, but he never thinks anybody would have romantic feelings for him, so he never thinks people are doing anything but giving back his kindness.”

“That’s good to know.” The cub ponders. “I’ll try and steer things that way. For now, thank you for listening to me complain.”

“Anytime, Chaengie.”

Seulgi chuckles and they finish their walk in comfortable silence, Chaeyoung ends up staying the afternoon, himself and Yeri still having to work on their school load, Seulgi sits with them and helps both boys finish it all, despite Chaeyoung getting distracted with his doodles and Yeri with trying to make music with his pen and a piece of plastic. Once they do finish, though, Chaeyoung promises to bring lunch for Seulgi the following monday and leaves him with a tight hug and a very wet kiss to his cheek, which Seulgi wasn’t really a fan of, but accepted happily anyways.


	15. Jihyo is bored

Do you ever feel like a day is just eternal? Like three hours passed and then you check and it’s been five minutes? That’s how we find Park Jihyo this fine monday. He was resting from training, the weight was almost dropped already and if he didn’t rest properly, he’d likely pull a muscle anytime now. School was dismissed earlier, something about a toilet blowing up that sounded suspiciously like Kim Yerim’s doing, not that anyone minded.

Our favorite Jigglypuf love child was lazing around on his bed, doing his best to not go out for a run, he was about one pushup away from an injury and he knew it. Now, our boy had done his schoolwork, studied a little, wrote down some notes for chemistry club the following day and it wasn’t even five yet. Might as well try and find something to do, he messaged Jackson and was told they were closing the shelter for that week because they were smoking the place for fleas and ticks, because of the animals they had to do it in small areas. Then he messaged Tzuyu and found that the boy was headed to the archery range to get his muscles flexing a little.

The other option, and one he didn’t really want to go for it, but there was no other way (there was, but he wanted to talk to someone). The lovely Bae Dahyun would be the one to entertain him, Jihyo was refusing to text him because he knew the younger Bae would take each and any opportunity to skip studying, it went from talking to a friend to cleaning the bathroom that was cleaned the day before, just to have an excuse to not stick to his studies. But dire situations (this wasn’t one at all) called for extreme measures and Jihyo was already hitting send before he knew it. 

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ You free rn?

_ hyunisbae2:  _ for you i’m always available

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ You flatter me. But I’m about to go running

_ hyunisbae2: _ no you’re not

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ No I’m not. But I’m lonely and wanted to talk to you

_ hyunisbae2: _ you are the cutest, but tzu was busy right?!

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ He’s at the archery range. 

And I’m always wanting to talk to you, I don’t know what you are talking about

_ hyunisbae2: _ i’m talking about you not being that slick

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Fine! I tried to go to the shelter but they are closed for the week

And Tzu said he’d spend the days flexing his old archery muscles!

_ hyunisbae2: _ thank you for your honesty, now i shall entertain you, my prince

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ You are insufferable. 

_ hyunisbae2: _ but you love me anyways

now, what’s up

_ DaddyBeefCake:  _ So, the first rounds are next saturday

_ hyunisbae2: _ i know

you saved me a seat, right

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Of course I did! But that’s not the point

_ hyunisbae2: _ the point is that you need to go get waxed and wants me to come with

which i will, just tell me wen

*when

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ you know me so well

_ hyunisbae2: _ that’s why you can't live without me

now, time and space coordinates

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ I’m thinking tomorrow after classes? 

If I can get an appointment, that is

_ hyunisbae2: _ you could, you know, call them right now

Maybe?

idk 

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Fine, just hang on 

_ hyunisbae2: _ i’m here

Jihyo flips apps and pulls up the number for the beauty parlor. Since greco-roman consisted of grappling, it was common for the fighters to try and eliminate the most friction possible, that meant he’d get everything from the neck down waxed off every time he was competing. Sure, they could just shave themselves, but JIhyo loved the feeling of his legs when he got them waxed, and his chest and abs, it felt so soft and smooth, Dahyun loved it too, the younger boy would make it a point to run his hands on Jihyo’s body whenever he could once wax season was on, he was a bit sad that JIhyo was going to drop it soon, maybe they could negotiate and keep the waxing happening.

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ I’m back

_ hyunisbae2: _ missed you

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ It’s been liek, ten minutes

*like

_ hyunisbae2: _ still missed you

got the appointment?

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Sure did, we are on tomorrow at five

We could go to that cafe you’ve been talking about

_ hyunisbae2: _ you know me too well

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ I just enjoy pampering you

_ hyunisbae2: _ don’t stop

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Don’t intend to

_ hyunisbae2: _ so, you saying i’m getting waxed too?

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ We both know you like getting heirless as well

*hairless

_ hyunisbae2: _ i’m not denying it

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Good, because I love how much softer we get 

_ hyunisbae2: _ oh my, mr park

are you propositioning me?

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Is it working?

_ hyunisbae2: _ maybe

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Then I’ll keep trying until it works

_ hyunisbae2: _ mr park, i’m just a simple boy

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ You see my body, you can’t help yourself

I know

_ hyunisbae2: _ if you weren’t so stubborn we could be dating already

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ If you weren’t so impatient we could be doing great things without dating

_ hyunisbae2: _ but I want to kiss you, and touch you, and spend nights hugging you tight 

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ I know, but you know why we aren’t together yet too

_ hyunisbae2: _ i’m sorry, i’m not trying to pressure you

i just get frustrated sometimes

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ I know, and I’m sorry about that too

I’m trying, I really am

_ hyunisbae2: _ i know you are, babe

i just wish we could be together already

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ I’ll talk to my parents again 

Can’t have grandpa keep insisting on an arranged marriage all my life

_ hyunisbae2: _ i’m sure everything will work out fine

sorry for pushing you again

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ No, you have all the right to be frustrated

I’m frustrated. And it’s all because my dad hasn’t been able to stand up to grandpa yet

_ hyunisbae2: _ hey, no

we both know the legal repercussions

we can wait abit more

*a bit

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ I don’t want to wait a bit more

I want you now

_ hyunisbae2: _ hyo, go take a nap

you are getting cranky

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Fine. But we are definitely sleeping over tomorrow

_ hyunisbae2: _ here of there?

_ DaddyBeefCake:  _ There. Haven’t talked to your parents in a while

_ hyunisbae2: _ yes sir

now go get some sleep

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Okay. Love you

_ hyunisbae2: _ love you too

text me later

_ DaddyBeefCake: _ Will do.

Jihyo grumbles a little, but moves to sleep anyways, he was getting cranky and should probably take a nap. It was always bad whenever Dahyun brought up their relationship, they loved each other, and Jihyo’s grandfather had made some deals with him as a trading card without anyone’s knowledge. Mr Park has been trying to legally untie his entire family from said deals but it was a slow process, he was the cast out son, and already not benefitting from anything the rest of his family might have. He was a lawyer himself and had a good friend helping with everything. It has been five years since he discovered there were legal agreements made on their behalf, but pinpointing all of them and legally dissolving each one took a lot of work.

It’s not that mama and papa Park were keeping their son from dating Dahyun, it was that mr Park found out there was an arranged marriage agreement in Jihyo’s name that would ruin the entire Bae family if they did get together before mr Park managed to annul it. It saddened everyone, especially when the two boys were so head-over-hills for each other, but it was the best they had at the moment.

Maybe they could get to that cuddling tomorrow, laying on one of their beds on their boxers and hugging each other tight was the best way to sleep, Dahyun and Jihyo could agree to that easily. Until they can freely be together, they will take what they can get.


	16. Why people think Jihyo and Seungwan are dating

Tuesday morning, classes are back, the Juniors bathroom that happened to be exactly above the headmaster’s office is closed off, said office is also mysteriously closed and the students are standing on a morning assembly with an enraged headmaster lecturing them on the proper use of school facilities. Seems like the entire bathroom was flooded and so was the office below for whatever reason that the plumbers couldn’t explain the day prior when they were called in to stop the water, at least.

Our boys are all standing with their classes, Seulgi had spotted his boyfriend looking particularly smug and self satisfied and just sighed. Chaeyoung was looking exactly the same a few rows later, his brother was the one sighing this time. Once the assembly was over, it had already ran over one and a half periods, everyone was just free to do whatever until the next period ran over, so we have our usual suspects doing exactly what people accuse them of dating for.

Jihyo and Seungwan were in the same homeroom class, together with Sana and Joohyun, but these two were also seatmates. Right now, Joohyun was busy checking his answers for the chemistry assignment with Jihyo’s, he needed to get his grades up in the subject and had realised that agreeing to enter the advanced program was a mistake too late, and that’s how we have our favorite bunny (don’t tell Nayeon) desperately trying to keep his grades from dropping and his scholarship on the table. Sana was just talking to the theatre girls who had come into their classroom for whatever reason and marched directly to him looking very determined.

The midget duo, however, was very much free to do as they wished, not like Joohyun could be talking about anyone’s height but he busy right now, and were huddled on their table just talking. It was very natural for them to be comfortable and close to each other, having been together since birth and all, so they were leaning into one another, shoulder to shoulder, with their pinkies intertwined, softly giggling through their hushed conversation. It was just the normal for Jihyo and Seungwan to do these things, Joohyun was never affected (yes, our boy was that confident in his relationship), and Dahyun had followed his brother’s steps a few minutes after he met Jihyo.

“Can you two tell us now?” Chen, a classmate asked, approaching the loving friends.

“Hey, Kim.” Seungwan greets, lifting his head from Jihyo’s shoulder.

“Tell you what, now?” Jihyo questions.

“That you two are together. I mean, it’s clear bu-”

“We are just friends, you know.” Seungwan cuts the boy. 

“And I don’t feel like broadcasting any relationship I may or may not have.” Jihyo adds.

“Not like it’s got anything to do with anyone else whatever the two of us have.” Wan finishes.

“Wow, no need to be rude.” Chen huffs.

“They are not, though?” Sana chimes in, he liked Jihyo, they were friends and he wasn’t about to let his friend be slandered like that. “If anything, you are rude for sticking your nose in their business.”

“And what is it to you, Minaotzaki?” The offender persists. 

The theatre girls who were talking to Sana and the two cheerleaders who were also part of that class were absolutely NOT about to let this loser mess with Sana and his friend, a lot of them knew Jihyo too, and they liked him, he was a polite and very nice to all who were nice to him too. It was just a bonus Jihyo and Sana were easy on the eyes as well, not to mention those developing muscles. Ehem.

“Just go away, Chen.” Minnie, theatre club president and a bad ass bitch. There are rumors she’s an A class muay thai fighter, still not confirmed.

“I’m not talking to you, Mary Poppins.” Big mistake, the collective gasp should confirm it.

“Thank you for being a fan, but that was back in first year of middle school, kind of creepy to keep bringing it up.” Minnie slithers forward. “Now, as much as I appreciate it, I’ll appreciate even more if you just go back into whatever sewage you crawled out of.”

“Funny, I swear I saw you there this morning.”

“Not possible, I was too busy being the fabulous woman you can only dream of.” There’s a cruel glint on the girl’s eyes. “Now, run along and I promise this will end here. Keep pushing, and I’m sure Lee Soojin has a thing or two to tell everyone.”

At that, the boy pales, swallows dryly and scurries out of the classroom, not to be seen until classes start, and he will certainly never try and intimidate anyone ever again. You see, Minnie was not just the president of the theatre club, she was also very popular and talked to about everyone, with that, she managed to collect information on each and every person in the school. If she didn’t hear herself, she had her informants to relay their findings to her. Once she was fed up with somebody, you can be sure she will bring up everything the person wanted to bury and use it well. The only way for her to have nothing on you was to actually have done nothing out of line.

“Thanks Minnie.” Jihyo says as soon as Chen is out. “I’m sorry you had to step in.”

“Don’t worry too much, Ji. Just take me for some ice cream later and we are good.” She answers lightly, it would be an opportunity to get some good information.

“Definitely will!” Seungwan answers for his friend. “And you better be hungry tomorrow, because you are getting some cookies.”

Minnie laughs and agrees, she knew Son Seungwan to be a fantastic baker, the boy has been the star of home economics back in middle school, and his cookies were legendary among those who had tasted them. I should point out here that Minnie is one of the handful of people who knows Jihyo and Seungwan are just great friends who are too soft with each other. She does have june for when they’ll show everyone they are not together, though, and is hoping she wins, because she could really use the money.

“Hey, Sacchan!” Jihyo calls, having an idea.

“What up, Hyo?”

“You wanna hang out sometime? I just thought we haven’t talked in a long time.”

“Sure do. Are you free today? We can go do that, it’s been a while.”

“I’m waxing today, tomorrow?”

“It’s a date. Just text me after you are done with Minnie.”

“Thanks, Sacchan.”

And they finish making plans as soon as the teacher comes in, everyone in the classroom was wondering what ‘that’ was, and how could Seungwan be just laughing when Jihyo was making plans with another guy? Right in front of his salad? Weren’t the two of them together at all to begin with? No, that’s definitely not it. A few smug grins sprouted on the few who knew exactly what the two boys were setting a date for. Joohyun, the gossiper he was, couldn’t wait to pull out his phone and message their group chat about the show they are about to be gifted the following day.


	17. About That

ART APPRECIATION GROUP

hyunisbae1, hyunisbae2, wanda, therealbunny, mrpenguin and 4 others are in this group

hyunisbae1: Listen peasants!

hyunisbae2: you are lucky i’m about to get waxed rn, or i’d be beating your ass up

hyunisbae1: Nah.

Just go work your kink with Jihyo and let the grown ups talk

hyunisbae2: you are definitely getting your ass kicked

in time

youngson: so, what is this chat abotu?

*about

hyunisbae1: Appreciating art? 

I thought the name was clear?

mrpenguin: Joohyun, start talking

hyunisbae1: right, so Jihyo and Sana are doing that tomorrow

bombreallove: Oh, do you have a time yet?

therealbunny: and a place, maybe?

hyunisbae1: Time will probs be after Jihyo takes Minnie for icecream

Place I’m yet to discover

bombreallove: well, then go get the full information

hyunisbae1: Dubs is getting kinky with Jihyo, he’ll find out

hyunisbae2: i’m what now?

mrpenguin: You are getting the info out of Jihyo

And we are going out to appreciate art tomorrow

hyunisbae2: yes sir!

shotthroughyo<3: Are ANY of you actually going to explain whatever that is?

therealbunny: Just come along, you giant baby

shotthroughyo<3: I’ll come along and smack your ass if you don’t shut up

therealbunny: Look, if Jeong is into that, good for you

But I’m not, so keep it to yourselves

shotthroughyo<3: Right, I’ll start with choosing a good spot on the landfill

I have to be sure your body won’t come up at all

therealbunny: Jeong, a little help here?

bombreallove: you’re on your own, fam

therealbunny: The betrayal!

Anyone help?

mrpenguin: Sorry, babe

You put yourself there

therealbunny: You know I love your, right Tzutzu?

shotthroughyo<3: Too late, I decided to find a pig farm

hyunisbae1: right, not that that’s out of the way

can we go back to agreeing to follow people tomorrow?

hyunisbae2: got an address and a time

love me, bitches

hyunisbae1: you talk like that again and I’m telling

hyunisbae2: tell and I’m showing mom where your collection is

hyunisbae1: I don’t know what you are talking about

hyunisbae2: you will, keep trying me

where was i? 

right, i got the info

therealbunny: the fight is over?

I was just about to go get some popcorn

mrpenguin: Yeonnie, I love you, but be quiet for me

therealbunny: fine

wanda: So, Hyun jr

Give us a time ad place

hyunisbae2: okay, first off

rude

but we’ll met at baby Tzutzu around six

*meet

shotthroughyo<3: Why my place, though?

hyunisbae2: it will be closer 

shotthroughyo<3: Fine.

I will NOT be entertaining any of you

Except Jeongie my love

hyunisbae1: Ew

wanda: ew

hyunisbae2: ew

mrpenguin: Ew.

therealbunny: ew

youngson: ew

shotthroughyo<3: keep it up and the landfill will be getting bodies like flies

hyunisbae1: So, we have our schedule

We gather tomorrow, gentlemen

Dismissed.


	18. Ice-cream and the gossip queen

Jihyo woke up very happy, he had gone and got his wax on, Dahyun went too, then they went back to the Baes’ house, had dinner and slept in each others’ arms after their routine to tease Seungwan and team up with Joohyun to get the boy to get to his chores, this time was ironing his shirt for the next day of classes. Dahyun was still holding him as he slept, but Jihyo had to make a stop at his house for his outing with Sana later, and he needed to get going if he didn’t want to be late. 

With much effort and a little sting on his heart, Jihyo got out of bed, got dressed and headed home, he also took the longer route and got his morning jog while he was at it. To say Mrs Park was surprised, would be putting it lightly, the poor woman let out a shriek when she saw her son, whom she was completely certain would not come home before the end of the day, making breakfast in the kitchen, looking like he was about to go in and take his shower like nothing was out of place. Mr Park came running, only to find his wife speaking in a foregin language (she wasn’t) and his son doubling over in laughter, the man put everything together and laughed as well.

“Okay, mom, I’m going out with Sana after school.” Jihyo spoke after he caught his breath. “We are going down to the studio, so I might come back late.”

“That’s fine, I’ll just take your mother out on a date, then.” Mr Park chirped. “You two will get something to eat later, right?!”

“Most likely. We do get very hungry.” Jihyo answered. “I should get ready, though, or I’ll be late for sure.”

“Alright, just don’t take too long.” Mrs Park dismisses her son.

The day goes by as well as it could, Dahyun did act a little suspicious, but Jihyo already knew their friends were about to follow Sana and him, most likely Minnie and her friends too (they were going for ice cream after class while waiting for Sana to do whatever he had to do). Not that people gathering to watch them was that uncommon, but the boys never failed to be amused at the people trying to be subtle while following them to the studio. Also, they all ended up sitting at the sides, in the studio and neither could really understand if their followers really thought they were being stealthy.

“Ji, are we meeting there?” Sana asks as soon as classes are over.

“Is it okay for you? Because I don’t mind coming to pick you up.”

“I think I’ll be fine, but I’ll tell you if anything changes.”

“Sounds good. I’m off to get Minnie, then.”

“Good luck with that one.” The japanese chuckles.

“I’ll need it. But you make sure you are taking care.”

“Will do.”

And then Jihyo leaves to get Minnie for their promised ice cream date. He knew the girl was relentless and this whole outing was just her way of getting information out of him, but Jihyo doesn’t mind, she’s a good girl and one of the few who never approached him nor his friends with a hidden agenda, she wanted gossip, and none of them thought they had anything too secret to keep under wraps anyways. Two classes over and our wrestler finds his girl of the day, talking to her friends and seemingly waiting for him. 

“Ready to go?” Jihyo asks, approaching the group.

“Well, aren’t you a gentleman, coming to pick me up.” 

“I do try my best.” Jihyo laughs.

“You achieve it most times.”

“Most? Should I start worrying?”

“Not that much, but surprise me with amazing ice cream and I might just tell you.” Minnie had finished fixing her things and was standing beside Jihyo by then.

“Well, miss Minnie.” The boy offers his arm and takes her bag. “Let me give you something to think about until you have it again.”

They both laugh at that, fully aware of the rumors starting to spread about this uncommon encounter. Let them all talk, maybe these new rumors will reach Jihyo’s grandfather’s ears and buy him a little peace. Unbeknownst to the pair (Jihyo really just learned to block them out), four “shadows” are about to follow them on this outing. Our usual suspects, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Seungwan and Dahyun are following them, like they always do, and their stealth skills are -80. Minnie was thoroughly amused and noticed that Jihyo was just plain ignoring those idiots, she loved it, hadn’t had this much fun in ages, now she knows how these boys managed to gather the legion of fans they had, nor how she got those twelve threats this morning. 

Minnie is a little intimidated when they get in the bus and head to the nice part of downtown. Usually she’d hang around itaewon or hongdae where prices are more within her range, but Jihyo said it would be his treat and she should just worry about which flavor she was getting. They do make conversation about anything, Minnie discovers a lot about the boy and gets some information worth trading with, whilst Jihyo is just having fun with the girl looking more and more preoccupied about their destination. He had left the fact that it was his mother’s restaurant unrevealed, and had messaged her ahead of time to tell everyone there to not reveal who he is, Minnie was nice, but Jihyo wasn’t about to just tell her everything just like that.

Plus, it would be just a couple minutes, maybe an hour, before Sana was done and they had to part. Indeed, not much after they are finished with their ice cream, Sana messages Jihyo that hewasheading to the studio and the ice cream duo heads each their own way. Jihyo does wait for Minnie to get into her bus before heading his way, his “spies” still following him.


	19. That

“I hope you haven’t been waiting for too long.”

“Oh, hey Hyo. Just got here.” Sana greets cheerily.

“Should we just tell them to come in already, or are we feeling like seeing how far they go?” Jihyo whispers when he gets close.

“I’m feeling let them be.” Sana giggles.

“Then let’s get in.” The smaller boy agrees, then says a little louder. “Which room do we have?”

The japanese seem to have understood. “I got number five, I know you love that one.” He says a little loud.

The two snicker and head inside, the group following them is joined by Tzuyu, Mina, Chaeyoung and Joohyun, who had opted out of the whole following part and headed to the studio to spend their time having some overly sugary excuse for a coffee and getting updated with each other. The group that had followed still had to understand where they were, while the group who came directly had already had a tour, played around a little and got to know some of the people who frequent the place. This was a music studio, they had dance rooms too, but this was usually where people came to make music.

Jihyo and Sana had been singing for quite a while already, they ran into each other by pure luck and decided to check out what the other was doing, both loved it and Sana suggested they worked together on a project or another, Jihyo couldn’t be happier about it and didn’t even think twice before agreeing. From then on, they made quite a few songs, nothing too professional, but enough to get into the creative process and forget the world for a few hours. Today they were recording some adlibs, to their latest project, they started sending their songs to contests at the beginning of the year, and this one was another subscription.

The boys were good, amateur and their voices were not that well trained, but enough to get them scouted if they ever really tried out for an entertainment company. Their followers, however, never knew of their real skills, maybe except Seungwan who may or may not have been asked to help them out here and there (Joohyun will never hear of this). Despite the Hyun brothers knowing they would be singing, Jihyo had never let them hear anything and they were almost as in the dark as all the others.

“Oh, you are here.” Mina notes the group of tired boys getting in the studio. “Get over here and we’ll order something to cool you all down.”

Nayeon tries to deny, mumbling whatever, but Jeongyeon drags him over regardless. The café was on the entrance of the studio, there was a mini reception at the back, but it took up almost the entire floor. The spy group gets some water and there is a small fight over the pitcher (Dahyun vs Seungwan, surprisingly) before they are capable of thinking past the heat and tiredness and actually order something. 

“I hope you all brought another shirt at least, you guys stink.” Tzuyu comments once they are settled.

“Of course I did.” Jeongyeon says, a little offended. “Who do you think I am?”

“I know you did, love.” Tzuyu shushes his boyfriend with a quick peck. “I’m asking these savages over there.” He motions for the other sweaty boys.

“Hey!”

“I smell heavenly!”

“Joonie likes it.”

“I do not like it, and you will not give me a kink I don’t have.” Joohyun protests his boyfriend’s claim with a powerful smack.

They all laugh a little, before Mina and Tzuyu usher them to the bathroom to clean up a little and change shirts. The other three agreeing wholeheartedly over the protests of the stinky group. You see, Mina and Tzuyu were very against the dreadful smell of sweaty and unshowered with deodorants about to expire teenage boys, it was awful and nobody really liked it, but those two were very vocal about their displeasure. Jeongyeon already knew to bring along a clean shirt, the deodorant Tzuyu had chosen for him, a pack of wet wipes and a towel (the tall boy was very particular about these things and would pack such kit himself whenever needed), Nayeon, however, was still in the adaptation phase, so Mina and him still hadn’t set rules for many situations yet, this was one of them.

Turns out, bringing three packs of wipes and a new deodorant can was the right choice, good thing Jeongyeon is a man who anticipates these situations and brought enough. That doesn’t mean Tzuyu is letting him be without a few laughs about how his boyfriend is sulking a little because their friends raided his supplies. Mina was grateful enough to give his pouting savior a kiss on the cheek, which got Tzuyu laughing even harder because he knew how awkward Jeongyeon was about these things. Nayeon, the devil’s spawn he is, saw it happen and kissed his friend too, which brought all the other boys to do the same and now we have Tzuyu rushing to a stall not to wet himself and the others laughing at the flushed bumbling boy.

“I’m going.” Jeongyeon mumbles and spins out of the bathroom.

“Calm down, you grump.” Nayeon taunts. “We are all going.”

“Also, Tzu isn’t done yet.” Joohyun notices. “Just wait a bit and we’ll go.”

“What are we doing here anyway?” Chaeyoung questions. “I mean, Joonie said it was art appreciation, but I still don’t get it.”

“You’ll see.” The older Hyun assures him. “Just follow me for a treat.”

“You know I really hate when you do these things, right?” Dahyun decides to stop his brother. “And you remember the beating waiting for you when we get home, yes?”

“Oh, shush.” The older pale boy dismisses. “You’ll thank me and forget all about it when we get there.”

“This better be good, Joon. I’m about to stop being patient with you.”

“Right, you two can fight at home.” Seungwan intervenes. “Right now we are heading to room five and this is going to be a treat.”

“With luck, Chae can get his shit together and ask Sana out already.” Nayeon quips, never one to lose an opportunity.

“We all know he won’t.” Tzuyu says with finality.

The group tumbles to room five, which turns out to be a recording studio and gets into another discussion about who will knock, that comes to an end when Sana opens the door with Jihyo just behind him, both looking absolutely amused with their visitors. 

“You can all just come in, you know.” Sana invites, trying very hard to not laugh.

“We are just doing some revisions anyways.” Jihyo adds.

The “spies” get inside, looking various levels of ashamed for being caught and mocked like this. The control room is fairly big, rooms three to six were the big studios, so it fits everyone, some on the floor, some on the couch, Sana and Jihyo are back to the chairs by the sound table.

“So, why are you all here?” The wrestler asks, not moving his attention from his work.

“Joonie declared we were coming over and we followed.” Dahyun blurts out, ever ready to throw his brother under the bus.

“Hey!” Said brother complains.

“So, you are all idiots. Got it.” Jihyo laughs, he knew none of them would take it too seriously. “Well, Sana and I are about to start.”

“You are welcome to stay and watch.” The japanese invited, laughing a little.

And the duo go back to the sound table and get things ready to start recording. Today was adlib day, the main vocals were already done and they had been talking adlibs for a while to get to an agreement on them. Plus, they wanted to be done with recording soon and start mixing, synching and finishing already, the recording part was the dullest for them, and they only had about two weeks to finish. Sana was the first one in, and the expectators were thoroughly pleased with what they were witnessing.

“This really is some art appreciation.” Nayeon whispers when the first chorus arrives.

“Told you.” Joohyun looks smug and very pleased with himself. “But wait until the big boss shows his skills.”


	20. The first football game of the season

Sooyoung was very nervous, nothing to do with the game, he trusted his team and their hard work, his nerves came from the fact his father had insisted on attending. That meant his “fiance” and their parents were all attending, and he would have to pretend to be the nice compliant daddy’s little boy and loving fiance for society to see. If both families were seen together, there was bound to be some media coverage, and that was really a bother to everyone else, this was just a simple first game and now they will make the headlines and he’d have to fake interest in that dreadful woman he was bound to.

Sure, the engagement was being undone behind the scenes, but apart from the two fathers, everyone else still believed it was completely official and the wedding was to happen. Their companies depended on the world still believing they were bound together, mr Kim and mr Park were working to make the ‘break up’ as seamless as possible, but that took time and a lot of work with their investidors. For now, Sooyoung would have to put up with Taeyeon a little longer, and neither could know their engagement was just a front already, else everything would fall apart.

“Do I have to be here?” Taeyeon complained for the nth time that morning.

“Yes, and you will pose for the cameras.” Mr Kim cut his daughter’s whining. “This is publicity and you will play your part, don’t forget who you are.”

“I am Kim Taeyeon and do not want to be here. I should be sleeping for tonight’s party.”

“And you will do well to remember you might not even leave the house if I decide you won’t, so play your part.” Mr Kim says with finality.

Sooyoung knew he would have to go and greet them at some point before the game, Joohyun and Seulgi had been great, trying to get his mind off his worries, and coach Choi even allowed Seungwan to slip in and give him some treats he had baked that morning, to which Joohyun pouted and whined a little until his boyfriend told him something and then he stopped instantly. Probably that there were more at home and Sooyoung’s dad was looking like he just killed someone so support your friend or no kisses.

“Coach, can I be excused for a few moments?” Sooyoung asks quietly.

“Sure thing, kid.” The coach allows, there was still a good hour before going out to warm ups. “Just don’t hurt yourself, alright?!”

“I’ll try, coach.” 

Coach Choi knew about his captain’s situation, mr Park himself had come and talked to him a while back, few days after Sooyoung was chosen captain. He was sympathetic to the boy, it’s cruel to have your life decided for you and to know only unhappiness was waiting for him. He also knew the boy had severe depression and was being treated, but could have some episodes here and there, so coach Choi tried his best to help without being too obvious. Choi Yujung was a hard man, but he was also a very caring and very compassionate man, he loved his boys and would do his best to help them along.

Sooyoung goes back to his locker and grabs his jersey, the team was already half dressed, only waiting to get their upper body gear on when the game would start, warm ups weren’t done with them anyways, and headed out to the bleachers. It wasn’t hard to spot his family, his parents stood out like a sore thumb and the Kims were there as well, the whole gathering looking entirely ridiculous, with five people dressed for a lunch at the country club at a highschool football game. Taeyeon was looking like she’d rather die then be there, he knew he was about to hear some choice words from the woman about her presence in this useless public stunt.

“Good morning, sir, ma’am.” Sooyoung greets the Kims, his parents were busy. “Miss Taeyeon.”

“Good morning, son.” Mr Kim greets enthusiastically, stopping the boy from bowing so formally. “How have you been.”

“I’ve been doing fine, sir.”

“No need to be so stiff, sweetheart.” Mrs Kim pats the boy’s cheek with a motherly smile.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Sooyoung says, just to say something. Then he turns to Taeyeon. “It’s good to see you, miss.”

“Wish I could say the same.” The young woman gets reproving glares from her parents. “Not like you all don’t know how I feel about this.”

“I’m sorry you had to be bothered like this, miss.” The boy answers automatically. “If you excuse me, I should greet my parents as well.”

“Of course.” Mr Kim dismisses, cutting his daughter who was about to say more.

The boy moves to his parents with a small bow to the Kims, mr Park was doing his best to school his expression, the sound of the shutters had grown exponentially after his son arrived, and Taeyeon’s little tantrum was already going to be plastered over the front pages all over, neither family could afford much else, but it was a calculated stunt between the two patriarchs, they had been feeling the pressure for anything on their children to be announced, this would shut them up for a while. They were still in business with each other after all.

“Father, mother.” Sooyoung greeted, very stiff as he always were with these public appearances.

“Son.” Mr Park greeted back. “I see you already talked to the Kims.”

“It is only natural that I greet my future in-laws.” The boy was clearly uncomfortable with all this.

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to be nervous.” Mrs Park tries to soothe her boy, giving him a warm hug. “It is just the first game.”

“I’m not nervous about the game, mother.” The boy swallows dryly. “But thank you. I should get back to the locker room, we should be heading out for warm ups soon and I must talk to my teammates.”

“Of course.” Mr Park dismisses him. 

Sooyoung gets a kiss from his mother and bows to both respectfully before leaving, Mrs Park knows her husband is as sad as she is, and she also understands why they were there, the woman could only hope that her son won’t be too put down today. Sure, what is happening might me a ruse between mr Park and mr Kim, but it’s not like the woman was blind to it all, she was the director of her own company, never having stepped down for her husband to take over, and mr Park found it only natural that she did. She was very well aware of everything that happened with her family, under her roof or not.

The game goes by smoothly, Sooyoung’s team was clearly better prepared, and won with a comfortable advantage, they might not have played with everything they had, but it was more than enough, besides, it’s wise to not reveal all the secrets at once. Mrs Park noticed a face in the bleachers she hadn’t seen in a while, her husband’s nephew, ever since the younger Park had been disowned and had his ties cut by old man Park she hadn’t seen the boy. He had grown so much, got so handsome and looked exactly like his mother, she saw the boy was sporting the school’s jersey, with his name on the back, so she figured he had become an athlete as well. 

Mrs Park poked her husband, who looked at her curiously, she moved for him to be subtle (the cameras were still on them) and guided him to where the boy was sitting, cheering loudly for the school team with his friends, the man felt his eyes tear up a little, but the years under scrutiny helped him keep things under control. The boy was beautiful, and he wished he could have been there to see him grow, mr Park hadn’t talked to his brother ever since their father threw him out, that was about ten years before, and the man wondered what else he had missed all these years.

The Parks observed more of their nephew than the game, although they did cheer for their son, they were mostly following the crowd, their attention was on the face they could recognise anywhere despite the manly looks settling, the shade of a beard and the muscles he had developed during the time they had been shut out. Mrs Park felt her heart warm and break with the boy, she noticed a smaller boy beside him, looking like they had something for each other, but she knew it couldn’t happen, and just vowed to double her efforts to free the innocent people who had already lost so much.

By the time the game ended, the Kims and the Parks made their way down the bleachers and started chatting, while waiting for Sooyoung to come out so they could pose a little more and head to dinner in whatever restaurant mr Kim had reserved for them. The boy didn’t take long, only a few others had come out by then, interestingly, a pale boy with pitch black hair came out, headed directly to the lost nephew and was kissed by the one mrs Park was certain was dating him, weird. They didn’t linger much longer after that, their ride for the evening was already waiting for them once they reached the parking lot, and Sooyoung hated every second of that over-the-top display of power, he figured it must have been mr Kim’s doing, as he was told the man was the one planning the evening.

Once the group arrived, mr Kim told the hostess about his reservation and they were guided to one of the ‘private tables’, this restaurant didn’t have private rooms, despite its status with two Michelin stars, but some tables offered more privacy than others. Sooyoung noticed a table in particular, at the center of the restaurant, with a completely different setting from the ones around it, and a mini counter behind it, when he pointed it to his mother, she guessed it might be the chef’s table. That got both Sooyoung and mrs Park wondering, mr Kim was certainly the type to insist on getting the best places, that would include the chef’s table, but neither mentioned it, saving the information for later.

“If you need anything, please call.” The hostess said once the group had settled. “You just have to press this button and a waiter will be with you shortly. Excuse me.” She pointed to a button on the table before leaving.

“Kim, this is a really nice place, I hear the waiting line is quite big, however.” Mr Park remarks.

“It is, but I called a few favors. Too bad we couldn’t get the chef’s table.” Mr Kim sighs.

“And why would that be, dear?” Mrs Kim asks, genuinely curious.

“Looks like the chef picks the guests for that table personally, and tonight there were others already scheduled for it.” The man is a little dejected.

“Maybe you could talk to the chef personally and convince them to change their mind?” Mrs Kim tries.

“That’s an idea.” Mr Kim agrees and presses the button.

Not much longer a waiter arrives, a very sharp looking and well built young man, his uniform neatly pressed, hair combed back and clean shaved, Taeyeon had some ideas on how to get his crisp white shirt ruined in the employees’ lounge. 

“How may I serve you tonight?” The young waiter asked.

“I would like to talk to the chef, please.” Mr Kim requested. “My wife just gave me the idea of trying to convince them to place us on the chef’s table in person.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, sir.” The waiter apologises. “The chef isn’t present at the moment, and the chef’s table has already been settled. I’m sorry, but we can’t place you there this evening, maybe some other time. Is there anything else I may help with?”

“Can you bring us your Alter Ego AOC Margaux? Two bottles to start, please.” Mr Park intervenes quickly.

“I’ll be back shortly. Excuse me.” The young man bows and leaves to fetch their wine.

Sooyoung could only pray this evening would be over quickly, if there was something he hated more than to be forced to interact with his fiance, it was to be forced to endure the Kims need to be extravagant and show off their supposed influence. Taeyeon was already more interested in their waiter, and the boy knew she would certainly slip him her number and they would be warming each other up before the evening was over. He really just wanted to not be here, maybe still be at school, cheering on the first greco-roman match that would have taken place that afternoon. All he got was a stressful morning and a lunch he wasn’t even going to taste anyways.


	21. Jihyo's first match of the season

The greco-roman team was good, but everyone who understood the bare basics of the sport knew Jihyo was carrying the team to their fame, the other schools only started getting invested against them after the ‘olympic drop-out’ joined the team. Before that, they were average at best. Now anyone can understand why everyone, without fail, was frustrated when Jihyo was told to back down for his seniors to have a chance to shine on his show. The other schools had gotten word of coach Zhen’s cowardice, but nobody really believed it, they couldn’t understand how it was fair that the boy was restricted just because his other teammates just weren’t up to par.

Everytime the season began, all the school’s athletes would show up to support each other, this saturday, anyone who could, showed up on their jerseys to cheer for the competitions taking place throughout the day. The football game was in the morning, greco-roman and cross-country in the afternoon (Jihyo was very sad he couldn’t go and cheer for Jeongyeon, who just hit upside the head and said it was just the first meet of the season) and there was the basketball game in the evening. Most families with more children, or who just wanted to support the kids in general had made it a day for picnics and bonding. 

The Baes, Parks, Sons, Ims, Yoos, Chous and Minatozakis (a new and pleasant addition) coordinated and managed a small barbecue for lunch and would be going to mrs Park’s restaurant for dinner, she had closed the place down for that evening and was taking no objections. Not to mention, she had already turned down the reservations for the evening and everyone else felt bad for making the woman lose so much money in vain. Not that she minded, really, unavailability only served to boost the restaurant’s popularity, and she had already dismissed most of the staff for that evening, they’d need just the bare minimum anyhow.

Once afternoon hit, the group got divided, Baes, Sons, Minatozakis and Parks went to the arena for the greco-roman and the rest headed to the field for the cross-country, they would be gathering again for the basketball match in the evening, being joined by the Myouis by then, Mina had a recital that day and wouldn’t be able to arrive much earlier than a little before Nayeon’s game. The boy was bummed, he was missing a barbecue, but his consolation came with having dinner that mrs Park’s restaurant, he was always an avid fan of fine dining, well, eating well in general, but let’s say fine dining so he can keep his expensive image (he wasn’t, he just loved good food in general, but Nayeon loved to call his boyfriend expensive and people seemed to believe him).

Mr and mrs Myoui were also very saddened about not being able to attend a whole barbecue with the group, they were very social people and enjoyed being in nice company, good food was a bonus. The Myoui family was made of gluttons, don’t judge, even Kai agreed to attend his little brother’s recital for the sake of eating out in a high class restaurant, it helped that they were all at a ballet recital and needed to dress nice. Nayeon was very pleased whenever Mina was all dressed up in his suit but will never admit that it got him all hot and bothered each time it happened.

Jihyo separated from the group as soon as they entered the arena, it was a multi-purpose area that held the indoor sports that didn’t need a court, the circle had been placed at the center, the bars and ropes the gymnastics squad used had been removed for the day, and the bleachers had been placed closer to the ring (they were mobile, a clever solution for a place that would host different competitions for various sports). The boy headed to the locker room, Dahyun walked him there and hugged him good luck before leaving.

Now, what many don’t know, is that protecting themselves for boys was a little trickier than it was for girls. The female team had competed that morning when the football game was taking place, they knew Jihyo wanted to cheer for his friends and that Seungwan would go there so the boy would certainly follow, so nobody really got mad at him for missing it. He started getting ready, that meant a tight underwear that would secure everything in place, his very well placed cup holder, which was a headache to put on each time, and then his leotard. The entire process sounded simple, it was infinitely more complicated than that, and it took him longer than he’d ever admit.

The crowd was getting excited, the cheerleaders came to rile them up a little, they were the hardest workers on sports days, the girls usually split in two squads for anything that wasn’t a major game, like football, soccer, basketball and things that would gather a bigger public at the field. Plus, it’s not like the entire cheer squad and their intricate routines would have fit in smaller spaces like this, so half the squad was hyping up the public when the teams got to the ring. There were rumors, but the girls had just seen for themselves the very real danger that was Park Jihyo in an unitard at a match, the wrestlers would practice indoors while the cheering squad was at the field, they never really saw him much, and the previous year the school only held one wrestling competition, which the boy didn’t participate in.

To say Elkie lost herself there for a moment would be an understatement, but the girl was the vice captain and had to take charge there, the captain was with the other half of the squad at the field cheering for the track team. She managed to get her girls back from their daydream and cheering again, good thing the mc was talking and their slip up went unnoticed. What the girls didn’t know, however, was that a post fight Jihyo was even more dangerous to their sanity, a cheerleader gathering was certainly needed that evening.

The fights go as well as one could expect, until it got to Jihyo’s turn, that is. The other school had saved their best fighters for the category Jihyo was previously placed at, nobody really believing coach Zhen had really moved the boy down, it made absolutely no sense doing that, it would just be wasting talent. When the announcer called him one fight before he was supposed to step in, the opposing team, their coach and most of the crowd began showing their frustration with the change. It wasn’t about winning or losing the fight, not with Jihyo, it was about holding the boy back and not allowing him to explore his full potential. All who were there and complaining had come to see what a real national athlete could do, only to get disappointed when said athlete didn’t need to make an effort.

Jihyo fought, certainly won, but it tasted bitter. He knew he wasn’t giving it all, and made sure to cross the circle to go and apologise to his opponent and their coach properly once the competition was over. The cheering squad, however, was too busy gawking at the greek god, sculpted in Olympus, Park Jihyo, he was sweaty and glistening in the afternoon sun, his leotard clinging to his body and leaving little to imagination. They were teenage girls with raging hormones, can you blame them. And it wasn’t like they weren’t admiring the other fighters, but this one in particular never really showed off like the others, so it was a surprise for them all.

Once all the fights were over, Jihyo indeed marched directly to the opposing coach (his own coach never noticed, too busy talking to the seniors) and asked to talk to him and his opponent after they had showered, explaining he was feeling a bit uncomfortable with the cheerleaders ogling him, the woman just laughed and told him he should just swing by their locker room when he was done, they would be waiting. He indeed got ready fast, not in the mood to waste time with his own coach at the moment, plus he wanted to get things solved and head to Nayeon’s game already.

Maybe showering and getting dressed didn’t do much for Jihyo, as they would be going to his mother’s restaurant after, he wanted to look a bit better and switching his suit jacket for the school jersey wasn’t really considered casual. It didn’t matter much, the opposing coach, mrs Jeon, he learned, just complimented him on the looks and his opponent, a boy named Jaehyun, said they weren’t angry at him, but very disappointed at coach Zhen. And explained nobody was believing the rumors, but they should have and should have taken a stand against it, Jihyo assured them he would be making a show of it properly and they parted on very good terms.

The walk to the basketball court would have been very uncomfortable if it wasn’t for the huge group waiting for Jihyo, he was gathering a lot of looks, mostly from the people who had just seen him compete, and the cheerleaders made a point to throw some pick up lines at him as they passed by, hurriedly to gather with the other half of the squad and prepare for the next game. Nobody let the boy live it down, however, especially mr Park, Seungwan and Dahyun, who were having the time of their lives making Jihyo blush a shade darker each sentence that came out of them. 

Jihyo took it, though, it was a nice distraction to how frustrated the day’s competition had left him, if one could call it a competition, that is.


	22. First track and field competition of the season

What outsiders might not know, and some insiders doubt, is that Nayeon and Jeongyeon are a less cuddly version of Jihyo and Seungwan. They are long time friends, there for each other no matter what, but instead of being mushy and lovey dovey with each other like their younger counterparts, they bicker and live to piss the other off and, consequently, everyone around them. Lovely, I know. 

When the group split, it was only natural that Seungwan would go with Jihyo just as Nayeon would go with Jeongyeon. Sure, the eldest boy hated these running stupid thingy, as he put it, but Jeong was running and he would sit there and support him with whatever it was. Tzuyu found it cutely endearing and Mina demanded he recorded the two so he could watch later, not that their subjects were aware of their taiwanese expectator. Both older boys liked to believe they were seen as manly men (they weren’t), and will never allow themselves to admit the love they had for each other publicly.

“You sure you don’t want me to get you that sheet so you can crawl under it after you lose?” Nayeon teases, not a single drop of real malice in it.

“Maybe you can use it yourself, to hide that hideous face of yours.” Jeongyeon counters, equally lovingly.

“Oh, you must be mistaken. I’m sure you are talking about your own reflection.”

“Nope, I’m certain I’m looking at you right now.”

Tzuyu can’t help but chuckle at that, which gets the bickering duo looking at him and he manages to look elsewhere in time so they just chuck it to something the youngest saw elsewhere. Back to their bickering, everyone around them knew exactly what Nayeon was doing, he was trying to get his friend’s mind off the competition about to begin, and sadly, being mean to each other was their way of doing things. Mr Yoo, Seungyeon and mrs Im were lagging behind, talking about how they would be a lovely couple, had they been a bit braver a couple years back and confessed before they met other people and buried the love they certainly had for each other.

Jeongyeon, in turn, knew Nayeon was as nervous as he was about the day’s events, and the older boy would have to endure it much longer because the basketball game was in the evening and Mina wasn’t there too. Sure, the danseur and the basketballer had been dancing around each other for too long, but they really relied on each other for support, not to mention Mina knew exactly how to calm his mans down and that would be really needed at the moment. 

“How about you just admit you can only dream of being as handsome as I am. It’s no shame to wish for this face, but not everyone is lucky.”

“Nayeon, you are so lucky you are book smart.” Jeongyeon sighs, and Tzuyu really had to laugh at that.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m undoubtedly the hottest guy this place has to offer.”

“Okay, sorry to burst your bubble.” Tzuyu felt it was time to intervene, the duo was about to hit each other. “But Jihyo is the hottest guy around.”

“Hey!”

“Not sorry, babe. I gotta be honest here, have you two ever seen him compete?”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this.” Nayeon huffs. “But Tzu is right in this one. I mean, that unitard hugs all the right places.”

“Fine, I’ll give yall that.” Jeongyeon mumbles.

“You boys do realize he’s not a piece of meat and Seungwan should have something to say about this, right?!” Seungyeon jumps into the conversation.

“Oh, Seungwan would very much agree with us.” Nayeon dismisses.

“And you clearly have never seen Hyo compete.” Jeongyeon adds.

“I do try not to see my younger brother’s friends like that. It feels wrong.” The eldest Yoo argues.

“Sis, I know you came here to support me and all that, but go and check Hyo out.” The youngest Yoo suggests.

“What?”

“Hyun says he’s the fourth up, you have time to watch the first race and go see it for yourself.” Nayeon cuts the woman’s complaint before it begins.

“I am doing no such thing, and you will not suggest any of this again.” The woman reprimands and walks away from the snickering boys.

Tzuyu, who had been on a video call with Mina all along (the penguin was on standby and decided to distract himself), goes back to his call and the old married couple goes back to teasing each other. One might think Mina and Tzuyu would be doubtful of their partners, but they couldn’t, there had been a lot of talk and a lot of undoing misunderstandings between them all, and they settled after that. Jeongyeon and Nayeon had given up on being lovers, and settled for being best friends and eternal soulmates, instead.

The cross country thingy, Nayeon insists, goes as well as it could, Jeongyeon is on the long distance, so he is on the first starters but will be finishing last, that leaves the group with a lot of free time, Tzuyu and Nayeon manage to convince the Yoo sisters to come with them and cheer for Jihyo while they wait. The parents had already banded together to do their own thing, mrs Yoo merely waved them away when Sujin announced they were going to walk around a little. Seungyeon might not want to admit it to herself, but Sujin will, Nayeon and Tzuyu were right, and thanks whoever invented unitards.

They leave shortly after Jihyo’s fight ends, it was disappointing, but the ultrage they saw tells them everyone was enraged with something about that fight. Jeongyeon’s race was still a long ways away from ending, but they came back to their parents looking like they had been scolded and very well behaved, must have something to do with papa Yoo and the deck of cards he sneaked into the picnic basket. Well, at least the ‘kids’ didn’t have to endure any of it. 

Some more races go by and the end of the long distance is announced, apparently the first competidors are about to arrive, the track is prepared to receive them and the other competitions halt for the time being. Sure enough, Jeongyeon is between the small group, about five boys or so, and looking like he is doing very well for himself. There would be enough time for a final sprint, once the competidors arrive back at the track, they were to do one last lap before finishing, and that was when Jeongyeon took his chance, he had been keeping a pace fast enough to not fall behind but not enough to deplete all his energy.

Once they entered the final half lap of their course, was when the real competition bagan, Nayeon and Tzuyu were hugging each other because they didn’t know what to do with their hands, their parents were screaming at the top of their lungs and Sujin and Seungyeon were bouncing on their seats in expectation. It was great, Jeongyeon got second, but that was a fantastic result for a former sprinter, and the coach gave him a big, bone-crushing hug because he did so well. Tzuyu was the only one going down to greet his boyfriend, the runners had to rest, and the tall boy just wanted to let Jeongyeon know they would be waiting for him by the bleachers so they could head to Nayeon’s game together.

Jeongyeon headed straight to the locker room, the school’s nurse was there to help the students,, along with the professionals who came with other schools, and helped the boy with not hurting himself. She guided the tired runner through a stretching and ‘un-warming’ routine, told him to take a warm shower, then guided him to a bed and put some ointment on his muscles to prevent injuries. Everything took a long while, that meant Nayeon and his parents headed to the basketball court first, Jihyo went with him, his group had already arrived from the greco-roman. When the nurse did release him, Jeongyeon took another shower to remove the ointment that smelled like death but worked like a charm, got dressed in his nice clothes and went out to join his friends and family.


	23. Mina’s recital

Unlike sports competitions, ballet was something that had recitals all year round, but things tended to pick up around holidays, something about people appreciating the art better during those times. That means our resident penguin, mister Myoui Mina, has been dieting and performing for months already and is getting to his wits end about this grueling pace he has been keeping since november. He was used to that, sure, many years of dancing (and martial arts) has shaped him into the danseur he is today, his body formed into perfection for the art, but as a teenage boy, Mina suffers all the time he has to diet and step up on his exercise routine.

The Myouis are known to be big foodies, they look skinny and very well in shape, but they are gym rats with great genetics, the entire family really loves to eat like pigs whenever they can, and the fact they are missing out on the gathering back at Mina’s school with endless food and a michelin chef’s cooking has the family quite saddened. But, a recital is a recital and Mina will do his very best until the end, as he had never failed to do. That, and Mina just wanted everything to finish early so he could get to Nayeon’s game already, sure, there was a program to be followed, but it didn’t hurt to hope.

The good part was that Mina wasn’t in the final act, he had done the opening, but their teacher would be finishing things, so he just took the time to shower and change as soon as he was off the stage. Sure, it would be better to watch his teacher perform, and also part of ballet etiquette, but he had seen it so many times he knew it by heart, and the first few minutes weren’t that much to look at, so he took the chance and missed the beginning in favor of getting to his love a little bit earlier. Well, at least half an hour earlier.

  
  


But right now, we still have Myoui Mina getting ready to dance, his partner for the act was already on stage, the woman dancing beautifully and impeccable, she was one of the prodigies from their company, had studied in Russia for her early years and returned with the basics to perfection already engraved in her. Mina, on the other hand, had been sent to a conservatory, the best in Japan, when he was five, after he manifested his desire to dance. He went through grueling training, both for ballet and for martial arts, his body was fine tuned to maximum efficiency in his movements with minimum waste.

The piece had been rehearsed tirelessly, the duo was so well rehearsed that they didn’t need to look at each other to know where to go nor when to move when the first notes for Sugar Plum started to play, both moved so serenely through the stage that the viewers could believe they had been made to dance just that. Their professor had slightly wet eyes when they exited the stage, but the man was a danseur, had lived for the spotlight and wasn’t about to show his soft side to those who were following the same path. His partner, however, had been prima ballerina for years in Milan, had danced to royalty and the cream of the cream of european high society, forced to retire when a bad accident tore her tendon.

The following pieces came and went, some were smooth and well rehearsed, others got the professors wondering when was it that they thought those performers were ready at all. The last piece was a classic, everyone who knew anything about ballet knew it, and all the artists knew it by heart, their professors were performing swan lake, common, but extremely difficult to run through with perfection. The pair had been dancing with each other long enough to be confident in their work, and Mina was always mesmerized when he watched it. But today, he was missing the first act in favor of someone who was more important for him than any performance.

“Where are you going? It’s about to begin.” Chaeryeong, his partner, asked, worried that the boy was leaving the wings.

“I’m going to shower and change, we aren’t in the final act anyways.”

“But we should still watch.”

“I’ll be back when I’m done. But we have seen this more than enough to have memorized every single step.”

“That’s kind of true, but still.”

“Chae, they won’t even notice we are gone. This ‘we have to watch’ thing is just a formality. I’m showering and getting ready so I can go and watch my boyfriend win his first game of the season earlier.”

“You really are the stereotype danseur, huh.” The girl laughs.

Mina chuckles along. “Maybe, but you could take this time to fix your stuff, and get ready to leave as well. It won’t take long since everyone is watching.”

“I’ll follow your lead, then.”

Turned out, everyone who was just lingering around, took turns to get showered, changed and ready to go as the final piece was being performed and Mina, unknowingly, had started a new trend within their company. The teachers didn’t mind much, as it made everything faster for them and the uncrowded showers and changing rooms were very nice for everyone.

As soon as the final bow had been taken, and the curtains were closed, Mina made his way to deliver the professors’ flowers and headed out to find his parents as fast as he could. Mr and mrs Myoui were fairly easy to find, they would always wait by the doors on the left side, something the whole family had agreed upon to make things easier after Mina had gotten lost at his first recital and everyone took a couple of hours to find him crying backstage on his own.

Once reunited, the Myouis headed out to watch a basketball game, see Mina screaming for a change and then get to eat high class food without high class prices. They know to appreciate the finer things in life, shut up.


	24. How to prevent a meltdown, and there is a game too

Nayeon was, by nature, teatrical. Everyone knew it, he knew it himself, and each one had their own way of handling him. From time to time, however, he would fall into some dark patches and some special skill was required to get him out of there. Fortunately for mama and papa Im, Mina seemed to have this special talent as a dormant skill, the boy would calm their son down without much effort at all, sometimes without even noticing.

Now, the fact that Mina had an all day recital the day of Nayeon’s first game of the season had the Im family and all their friends rather annoyed with an specific Im Nayeon, the most obnoxious child the world has ever seen whenever he put his mind to it. And the first game was always a day that he put all his efforts into it. Now, Seungyeon had managed to tame him a little, the woman also had some talent, but the peace and quiet did come to an end once Jeongyeon’s race was over and they had a couple of hours to kill before Nayeon had to go and meet with the team for their pre-game rituals.

Mina was still a ways away from arriving, and Jihyo had still not arrived from his own competition. And Jeongyeon had gone into the locker room and told them he would take a while to come back, they knew he needed time to make sure he wouldn't pull a muscle or something. So, here we have a lot of parents who had already tuned out their kids, and were drinking and talking among themselves, the Yoo sisters who had escaped somewhere, and our favorite boys who were really trying to not strangle Nayeon.

The groups had already been reunited, and were just hanging around the court waiting to be allowed in. Our basketballer had started pacing and rambling when a sure and firm strike found his head, a loud yelp and a groan follows. Simultaneously, a booming ‘shut up’ and a melodical laugh are the things that draw everyone’s attention. Jihyo had arrived from his talk with the opposing coach (they had left without him when he asked them to go ahead) and saw his dear friend was starting to spiral. The wrestler shot the danseur a message telling him where to go when he arrived and went to get Nayeon to quiet down, if their friends’ faces were anything to go by, someone was about to punch him out.

“What was that for?” Nayeon whines as he rubs his head.

“That was for bothering everyone here. No! You don’t speak. Quiet down and stop making everyone uneasy.” Jihyo scolds.

Nayeon does stop, not because of the scolding, but because Jihyo is looking dashing with his fancy clothes and completely adorable with his glasses and looking angry and all. Nobody really knows how, but Nayeon is always absolutely right whenever he claims Jihyo is being adorable, and everyone joins in his impromptu photoshoot. The wrestler pretended to complain, but he complied happily just to see his old friend relax a little until Mina got there and helped ease his boyfriend. Not that Nayeon didn’t put his trust on his team and their hard work, but to be the very first match of the season, it got the boy nervous about how they will perform.

Who knows how long it was that the impromptu photoshoot lasted (Sujin knew, but she wasn’t about to say anything) when Mina finally arrived. The boy was naturally ethereal, but wearing his suit and with his hair combed back he was looking fine. Nayeon immediately stopped in his tracks, and Jihyo was pretty sure he saw some drool dripping on the floor, not that the bunny would ever confirm it. To everyone’s relief, Mina said he’d take it from there and moved to drag his boyfriend away after he had properly greeted everyone. The fact that Nayeon was still stunned helped a lot.

“Wha- Wh- Ho- What?” Nayeon stammers when he feels a gentle press of lips against his cheek.

“Hello.” Mina giggles.

“Hi.”

“How are you feeling?”

“What?”

“You already said that.” The danseur laughs.

“I-”

“A certain pokemon told me you weren’t feeling well?” Mina cuts the rambling he knew was coming.

Nayeon blushes and whines about whatever, he always mumbled while whining, and Mina giggles again. The older boy was always very cute in whatever reactions he had, the thing about Nayeon is that he was adamant that he was cool and a badass, when really he was just a big fluffy ball of cute. Mina never got bored with his boyfriend, but right now, he knew Nayeon was nervous, he always doubted himself when competition began, he might sound self confident and obnoxious, but that was a front for those who didn’t bother prying.

“Remind me to kick Jihyo’s ass…..” The penguin merely raises an eyebrow. “After he comes out of competition shape.”

“That’s what I thought.” Mina chuckles. “And we both know Jihyo can kill you without breaking a sweat. Stop fooling yourself saying you could take him on.”

“I’m allowed to have dreams!”

“Sure, but let’s not talk about them when they are this ridiculous.”

“Is this ‘be mean to Nayeon’ day?” He huffs. “First Jeong tells me to go away because I was annoying him, then Dubs, Chaeng and Yeri went somewhere they didn’t want to mention and didn’t even tell anyone. Then Seulgi and Joonie said they had something to take care of with Soongie and told us not to follow them. And then Jihyo came and hit me in the head and it’s still hurting.” Nayeon finishes his rant and pouts.

Mina chuckled, finding it adorable, despite being a bit annoying, he had to be honest here, but he signed up for this, and Nayeon was pretty easy to handle, most people just didn’t have the patience to work past the initial whining. The older boy was really the sweetest, and sometimes much like this one, just needed to be held and distracted a little before he settled down and apologised for being troublesome. And that’s what Mina proceeded to do, they had arrived at their favorite tree, he pulled Nayeon down with him and held the older boy close, they stayed there as long as it was needed.

“Your phone is ringing.” The basketballer says, they’d been there for a while now.

“I’m busy.” Mina answers simply, not letting go.

“It could be important.”

“Not as important as this.” To prove a point, the penguin kisses his boyfriend and snuggles closer.

“Mina, just get it, please. It’s not stopping.”

“Fine.” Mina huffs and grabs his phone, not even checking the caller id. “This better be very important.” He hisses into the speaker.

“You know you could just have Yeonnie over, or go to his house and spend the rest of the weekend together, right?!” Mrs Myoui laughs at her son.

“I know, but all the time won’t be enough.” The boy mumbles. “What’s wrong, mom?”

“Nothing’s wrong, but you two should start heading back. It’s almost time for Yeonnie to go in.”

“Fine.” Mina agrees with a pout, which Nayeon kisses right away. “Be right there.”

“And fix yourselves before you get here, Jeongyeon is now out of distractions.”

“Will do. Bye mom.”

And they hang up. Mina looks a little saddened about having to end their private time together. Nayeon, however, looks very amused at that, giggling as he gets up and pulls the younger boy up with him. He doesn’t forget to kiss Mina deeply, both smiling into it. 

“Come on, I’m guessing we are supposed to go back.”

“But I don’t want to go back yet.” Mina stomps his feet in place, pouting again.

“I’ll make you a deal.” That gets the other interested, Nayeon just laughs. “We go now, and you are adorable for the rest of the evening, then we can spend the rest of the weekend at your place.”

“Why my place?” 

They had spent a lot of time on each others’ houses, even before being an official couple, but there was no denying that Nayeon’s bed was the more comfortable, Mina had an orthopedic mattress and, despite doing wonders for their backs, wasn’t the best to cuddle in.

“Because, my love, I heard all the parents setting up an outing tonight, and your parents are going back to my house when they come back. I think they are ubering with mom and dad.”

“Oh, we are definitely going to be at my place, then.”

“That’s what I thought. Now, come on, we can cuddle all we want later.”

“Alright, but you have to promise.”

“I promise I’ll hold you tight until monday.”

“Then let’s go.”

They head back, then. Mina did remember to check his boyfriend and asked him to do the same, and they just had a bit of dried leaves on their pants from sitting on the ground, nothing much. Jeongyeon looked very disappointed at that, which got Jihyo and Joohyun cackling like madmen and the other boys just very amused, but trying to hold themselves back, because Jeongyeon was a very sore loser whenever it came to their friend group. Competitions? Nah, they prepared, trained to be in their best conditions, trusted their hard work and, those who had them, trusted their teammates to perform just as well. But bickering with their friends, that was another thing entirely.

The main reason for Jeongyeon being especially bitter towards the Hyun brothers, Jihyo, Sooyoung and Seulgi was mainly facial hair, but that’s a tale for another time. Back to the order of business, Nayeon was about to have the most stressful game of the season and they were there to support him, well, most of them. But Sooyoung wasn’t fairing that well either, and they knew his boys were going to stay with him until it was time for the boy to leave.

Nayeon’s game went more than fine, though. They won by eighteen points, and now the team was more relieved, the opening game was always pressure on the teams participating in it.


	25. Fun fishing with Jihyo, Sana and Tzuyu

If there was something like a tradition among our favorite boys, it was the fishing fetish Jihyo, Sana and Tzuyu seemed to have. Everytime, after a competition day, it doesn't matter if they participated or not, the three friends would go out fishing the next morning, usually sunday mornings. Their friends were always curious about it, Nayeon swore it was the most boring thing he had experienced in his life, and doubted anything could top it, Mina was the only one who believed him right away and that was his saving grace.

Today, we have our little fishermen and Chaeyoung and Yerim as their followers in this very fun (totally boring) morning. They left at four, so they could be in the water before five, which was already something that had the trouble duo complaining, the group had slept over at Tzuyu’s house, so Mr Chou could drive them the next morning (it was his turn). That meant Jeongyeon and Dahyun would have slept there as well, but they weren’t about to be woken up at four on a sunday, Seulgi, bless his heart, had been warned, but said he would follow his boyfriend anyways. 

Our bear cub wasn’t going to actually get on the boat and head into the lake with the boys, but he did go along, bringing a small tent (those you just have to throw them and they got up on their own) a sleeping bag and a basket full of food and drinks, he bid the crew goodbye and found a small clear space under a big tree, tossed the tent and dove in, to never be seen again…… Until the other boys were back, that is. Chaeyoung obviously went because of Sana, and Yeri was there because best friends he guessed. The trio were all sporting full gear, each in a different color, but all matching, it was really the exact same for the three just different colors and sizes (it was cute), but our visiting duo just had their shorts and tank tops on, with a pair of huge hay hats Chaeyoung’s grandpa forced them to take.

The food and drinks were prepared by mrs Chou, she handed them three coolers filled to the brim, and another smaller one that was left with Seulgi. The huge hats turned out to be what saved the guests from a heatstroke, Jihyo did tell them to be prepared, what to bring and what to wear, but Chaeyoung was too focused on spending the day with Sana, and Yeri couldn’t care less, he was going because Chae asked him to and he was a great friend, Seulgi couldn’t be convinced to get on the boat, however, he agreed to accompany them, as long as he got to sleep to his heart’s content. Sana advised him to get a tent, offering his own if the bear didn’t, and get some sleep by the lakeside, enjoying the cool breeze and the birds singing.

On the boat, our fishermen were already very well acquainted to all the fishing club staff (they came over a lot), the captain was pleased to see new faces and lured the troublemakers with going to the cabin and letting them hold the boat’s wheel wearing his hat for pictures and explaining everything on the panel, the boys were enamoured by the radar and got distracted enough looking at it for the rest of the trip. They sailed to the middle of the lake, where the bigger fish were usually found, Sana had spent most of his time switching the grip on his rod, he noticed it could slip and he might lose the whole thing if the fish tugged a little stronger.

Jihyo was checking the bait and distributing it equally for everyone, before they got to where he would start baiting the waters. Tzuyu busied himself with making sure the fishing chairs on the boat were safe, they had an accident on their third trip involving a not-well-fixed chair, a big fish and a distracted Jihyo that ended very badly and nobody wanted a repeat of that. Sana had checked on their friends at the cabin and found them arguing about what they were seeing on the radar (it was rocks) and just left them there. It was about a thirty-minute ride until the point they were going today, smaller fish than they were used to, but big enough to give Yeri and Chaeyoung a challenge.

Once there, Jihyo helped Yeri and Sana helped Chaeyoung with their rental rods, Tzuyu gave them a bait bucket to share and told them how to use the chairs, before going off to do his own thing. Jihyo and Sana showed the boys how to cast their lines and, once they got it, went to their own places as well. The captain had anchored the boat and told them he would be napping until it was time to return, the more experienced boys put their earphones on and drifted off with the music, while Yeri started complaining it was boring within five minutes, Chaeyoung was adamant on enjoying the experience.

“This is boring, why did you bring us here?” Yerim complains for the nth time.

“Because I’m trying to shoot my shot and you are helping a brother out.” Chaeyoung shrugs.

“I’m rethinking this ‘helping a brother out’ thing.”

“Look, they are among the top ten smartest people in school, they also are brilliant in sports and three of the best people we know.” The cub whisper-shouts, looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t heard (he wasn’t). “Don’t you think this ritual of theirs could help us with our own grades?”

“You kind of got a point.” Yeri whispers back. “If it brings my grades up, I’m game.”

“Great, now let’s do this thing.”

Yerim gets his earphones plugged as well, and Chaeyoung decides to just enjoy the sounds of nature for now, this kind of calm couldn’t be found easily in the city. It wasn’t long until the sun started rising, that’s when the two inexperienced boys started feeling the effects of not having enough sleep and began nodding off. Chaeyoung was about to get some real sleep when his rod started tugging, and the boy was thankful he listened to Tzuyu and fastened the belt on his chair. 

“What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?” The tiger shouted desperately.

“Calm down and grab your rod first.” Jihyo commanded, getting up to help. “Don’t pull yet, though. Just hold it firmly and let the fish hook properly.”

“Let what do what now?” 

“Just hold it and make sure it isn’t pulled in.” Sana intervenes, managing to calm the younger boy down.

Jihyo smiles and goes back to his own place, he had been working his own catch when Chaeyoung started panicking. Yeri was very amused but doing a great job pretending to not be watching.

“Okay, what now?” 

“Just wait a bit, it will start tugging when the fish is properly caught, just hold on until then.”

“Why not just pull it?”

“Because if you pull right now, the fish will break loose. Let it get itself caught, you cast your bait, now let it bite and hook itself for you.” The japanese says with a mysterious smirk playing on his lips.

Yeri couldn’t help but snort at that, he could pretend to be uninterested, but this was just too good, he just saw that Chaeyoung was being handled good and didn’t even notice it, despite being told exactly what was happening. Jihyo and Tzuyu were chuckling silently, they knew Sana’s plan and had been told about it before, it was easier to keep themselves silent.

“Okay.” The cub says enthusiastically, not noticing what just happened. “What’s so funny, Yerm?”

“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just thinking of Seulgi.”

The other just agrees and returns to his task, it wasn’t completely a lie, Yeri was thinking of Seulgi all the time, but that didn’t mean other things couldn’t cross his mind every now and then.

“Oh, it’s tugging now!”

“Good.” Sana intervenes in the excitement. “Now you are going to start reeling it in. So, pull your rod to you, make it an arch backwards, make sure the top is coming back too. Then move it forward again while reeling it in”

Chaeyoung grunts but pulls it obediently, Sana helps guiding the rod so it moves appropriately. In the meantime, Yeri seemed to have gotten a bite too, and Tzuyu was the one who moved to help him. Jihyo was busy gutting the fish they had caught before putting them on the ice cooler, Sana had hooked one while he was helping and the wrestler had pulled it for him.

“Now, wait a bit and then repeat. It’s thrashing, wait until it starts tugging again before you pull it a bit more.”

“I think I got it.” 

“I’m here to help, don’t worry.”

“This is kind of fun!” Yeri remarks beside them, having gotten the hang of how to catch a fish.

“We know.” Tzuyu answers amusedly.

“I might join your group by the end of this.” 

“We’ll see about that when we get back, Yerm.” The taiwanese laughed, still focusing on the fish. “But pay attention.”

“I’m paying attention.” Yeri grunts in protest, but is unable to complain more as the fish seems to be getting stronger. “Is it normal for them to get this much stronger?”

“The closer it gets, the harder it is to pull them out.” Jihyo quips, amusement also very present in his voice.

“Now I’m starting to think I should start going to the gym with Seul.”

“That you should, and don’t forget to bring this midget with you.” Tzuyu answered as flat as he could, despite wanting to laugh.

“HEY!” Both the struggling boys scolded.

The three fishermen just laughed loudly, now having moved to just observe, as they had gotten the idea of what to do and were left to it. Jihyo had finished his task and threw the guts in the water, it served as bait too, the other two saw that Yeri and Chaeyoung understood what to do and were now just observing in case their help was needed. The beginner duo struggled for a good while, but managed to pull in their catch, Jihyo told them how to get the fish out of the hook and Sana called them over to teach them how to gut them.

“Why do you gut them here?” Yeri was really curious.

“Well, we usually stay here until lunch, sometimes all day.” Tzuyu started explaining.

“Today we’ll just stay until lunch, don’t worry.” Jihyo intervenes before the complaint leaves their lips.

“As I was saying, we stay here for a good while, and despite putting them in ice, the guts are the first things to go bad, so Cap taught us to just throw them out as soon as we pull the fish out of the water.”

“So you guys don’t know why, is what I’m hearing.” Chaeyoung taunts.

“Trully, we kept doing it because we can save on bait to throw in the water.” Jihyo concludes simply.

“Alright, let’s get these tripes out, then.” Yeri hypes up, earning some winces.

Sana goes back to talking them through the process, while the other two go back to readying their rods to cast again. They return just before midday, with two very excited beginners, Seulgi smiles warmly and asks them how it went, listening intently to everything they were telling him. They just thank the captain, divide the items they had to carry back, luckily Seulgi had already packed his things, and head out to the parking lot to wait for mr Chou, Tzuyu had messaged him when they started heading back, but the trip from his house to the fishing club took a bit longer.

Needless to say, the fishing group got two more enthusiasts, they wouldn’t go as often as the older trio did, but often enough to start getting their own gear soon.


	26. Sooyoung and Dahyun

If there was an unlikely pair to ever get along well, it would be Park Sooyoung and Bae Dahyun, not that they weren’t both great kids, but they were just so different that one would think they would never hang out willingly. And that is where most would be very wrong. Obviously, they met through Joohyun, but both boys ended up finding the weirdest things in common, for example, their love for massages, not the relaxing ones, the ones where they would be manhandled and needed back into place but get out of it walking funny because they couldn’t feel their body anymore.

Joohyun and Seungwan had tried it once, swore to never return if they weren’t in desperate need of one. Joohyun did return a few times, after some more gruesome games, but never for fun as the other two did. It was a wonderful thursday, the sun was shining, not a single bird chirping (it was after class), and classes had been not that stressful, Dahyun had the idea two days prior, when Jihyo went fishing, then he called Sooyoung and they set up the date. Jihyo had also gone one time, but found he preferred the chiropractor and the acupuncturist instead, the results were better for him like that. 

“May I have the honor of your company, mister?” Dahyun asks loudly with an exaggerated bow.

“Of course, my dear.” Sooyoung answers with a chuckle. “My ladies, please excuse me, I have prior arrangements.” He tells Eklie and Shuhua, who were talking to him on the way out.

“You two could go a little easier on the roleplay.” Elkie warns jokingly.

“Hyo might get a little jealous of his man.” Shuhua joins the play.

The boys gasp.

“We can’t have that.” Sooyoung tries to sound worried.

“What would it take to keep you ladies silent?” Dahyun asks conspirationaly.

The girls burst out laughing, the younger Bae was the funniest person they knew, even when he was trying to be serious. Just not when he was angry, but still. The boys didn’t resist much further, and the group started walking to the exit still laughing. They make small talk as the group walk to the gates, saying goodbye to the girls with big hugs before going their own ways. Sooyoung liked this, he enjoyed whenever he could be just the highschool boy he was, not bound by the weight his last name brought, sometimes he thought how it was to be Jihyo, a Park unbound by his grandfather’s greed.

“He isn’t that free, you know.” Dahyun says, not really looking at his companion.

“Who?”

“Jihyo, he’s a ‘free’ Park, but he isn’t that free. Not really.” 

“How did you know?”

“You were mumbling to yourself. It’s alright, though, I’m glad you are relaxed enough around me to not worry.”

“Well, I must say, you do hold a special place in my heart, Dubs.”

“Sorry, not my type.”

“Should I be hurt, offended or fight for you?”

“Definitely relieved, I mean, you don’t want to go fighting Hyo for my favors.”

“I surely don’t. That midget can pack a punch, zero out of ten, do not recommend.”

“Now you have to tell me what you did for him to beat you up.” The pale boy laughs. “He’s a saint.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it. Still gives me shivers.” Sooyoung exaggerates a shiver and both laugh. “How are you two doing, anyways?”

“We are doing great, could be a bit better, but given the circumstances, we are as well as we can be.”

“That bad, huh.” The taller boy sighs. “But you both love each other, it’s more than I can say for myself.”

“Hey, no! We don’t go there.” Dahyun scolds. “We hope for the best and try to forget that woman exists.”

“I’m still engaged to her, though. No matter where I run, I can’t really escape that.”

“Then we are going to get our muscles relaxed, focus on the pain those ladies are definitely bringing us and get out of there not feeling a thing.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

They laugh as Dahyun opens the door to the clinic for the taller boy. The Hyun brothers were known to be gentlemen, and Sooyoung learned, through his friendship with Joohyun, that it was a family trait, surprisingly, from their mom. Don’t be mistaken, papa Bae was one of the kindest men this world has seen, but mama Bae just had this natural way of paying attention to the details and acted rather then talked. It was unconscious, one would understand easily, they saw details and acted before thinking. All that made it very hard to not fall for the Hyun brothers, but both were committed already and Sooyoung sent a silent prayer for the other kids pinning for them.

True to Dahyun’s word, they were manhandled back into place, their muscles didn’t ache any longer, but they really didn’t feel their bodies either. Or much of anything other than the residual pain from their session, what other thing to do but go for some junk food, right?! They had their own place, a hole-in-the-wall burger place where the food was heavenly and the owner was funny, Dahyun was the one who had found it, and brought Sooyoung there after a particularly gruesome encounter with his family and his fiance. Joohyun had been tackled too hard and was under the nurse’s care (Seungwan beside him the entire time), and Seulgi was worried with Yeri, who had been about to fight another boy with Chaeyoung (the other boy was double their size combined).

It’s not that Dahyun and Sooyoung weren’t good friends, but they weren’t as close as Joohyun and Seulgi were. Something about playing together and bonding, whatever that meant, but Dahyun was a loyal friend and as good as they came. It helped a lot that he was funny and very bright, when he asked Sooyoung to come with him that day, the taller boy didn’t know what a great decision he had made, everything got even better when they arrived at the small shop, the owner, a burly woman with the heart of a child and chaotic friends who produced great stories, welcomed them with a big hug and a smile on her face. 

Sooyoung felt better the instant he was scooped up in those strong arms in the warmest and most loving hug he had ever received in his life so far. The stories the woman told them showed him she had been in some tight spots, but managed to get out of the craziest situations. That brought him some comfort, sort of a light at the end of the tunnel, telling him that he would be fine, despite his undesirable situation with his family. Dahyun was his adventure friend from then on, Sooyoung swore to never again hesitate when Dahyun asked him to come along, and to also make an effort to find good places to take the younger Bae.

“It’s been a while.” Mrs Sanches, the cashier greeted. “Chris, your boys are back!” She screams into the kitchen.

“Which boys?” Comes the answer.

“The tall and the short ones.”

“Get them a table and something to drink, I’ll be out with their food soon.”

“You heard the woman.” Mrs Sanches tells them.

“We don’t get to order?” Dahyun laughed, already knowing how this worked.

“Sure you do!” The woman gets a mischievous grin. “Just go there and tell her.”

“We’ll be taking a seat.” Sooyoung interrupts before his friend actually tries.

The woman behind the counter just laughs wholeheartedly, getting up to prepare the boys’ drinks. In this place, you get to order the first three times you come over, after that, they would already know what you like, and the chef would come up with a different burger each time you went over. They had few but faithful customers, and Chris always took the time to talk to each one, getting to know them and their preferences. It helped that the woman had a perfect memory, never forgetting the information she had received.

When Sooyoung feels his body being hoisted up and squeezed with love and affection, he reciprocates immediately, for whatever reason, Chris, or Christina Welsh the owner of The Lair, oozes a calm and uplifting energy in her hugs that got the boys addicted from the first one. Dahyun pouted a little but stopped quickly when he was pulled up right after. That hug was what was missing for Sooyoung to bury his regretful encounter from the previous weekend, having to be in the same space as Taeyeon took a lot out of him, and he was playing his first game of the season as well.

They talked a lot, Chris excused herself from time to time when someone came in, but this was almost an exclusive restaurant, as it was on a side street, just a small door between two flashy stores, easy to miss if you don’t pay attention. It was the best burger the boys had ever had, never the same, but never failing to make their taste buds explode and their brains stop working with each bite.


	27. Seungwan needs to be stopped

Joohyun should have seen this coming, he really should, it’s really his own fault that he didn’t, he got distracted with the new softner his mom had brought home, left Seungwan unsupervised for too long, he wandered off, and now trouble has already arised. It wasn’t Dahyun nor their dad’s fault either, they had just commented they would like some brownies, no demands, just a wishful thought, and that was enough.

Seungwan had been sitting in the varanda with them, enjoying the breeze and waiting for Joohyun to come back from his run around the neighborhood, nothing about the situation could have told them what was to come. The small baker jumped to his feet, got inside and asked mrs Bae if he could use her kitchen. The woman was happy to allow him to do as he wished, she too was a fan of the boy’s baked goods. Not much later, the Baes had about a brownie, five cupcakes, a cake, and a bowl of cookies….. EACH.

Joohyun wasn’t very pleased when he got back from his run, he knew his boyfriend always got excited about baking and never seemed to be able to stop on his own, when his mom told him she had let Seungwan loose on her kitchen, the only thing left to do was accept their fate and share a lot with their neighbours later. Seungwan looked so happy and giddy that the older boy couldn’t help but melt instantly at the sight, he just kissed him dearly, helped with the cleanup and they cuddled the rest of the morning before they had lunch and Seungwan left for Seulgi’s house, they were due to finish a class project that afternoon and far it be from Joohyun to keep his boyfriend away from his studies. That, and he wanted to use the new fabric softener.

Arriving at the Kangs, Seulgi was already waiting, having claimed the living room and already spread out the books and notes they were going to use, Seungwan greeted mr Kang, who was finishing with the lunch dishes, mrs Kang had gone out to the market so the boys just got to work. Seulgi, despite being the lord’s peace incarnate, would get very invested whenever his studies were involved, so they embarked in a frantic and slightly blind mission to perfect their project and have it ready to submit by the end of that afternoon. 

They did finish, and with some time to spare also, Seulgi commented, without a single pretense, that he would love to have something sweet after their hard work. Seungwan got to his feet and said he’d handle it, the small boy strutted into the kitchen with a mission, mr Kang was by the breakfast bar, working on something in his laptop, and when asked about using the kitchen, Seungwan was told he didn’t need to ask anymore, but was welcome to do as he pleased. And by the time mrs Kang had entered her kitchen to make dinner, she found six casseroles, trays upon trays of biscuits, her entire breakfast bar taken over by tarts, a three-story chocolate cake and two carrot cakes. 

The Kangs ended up ordering dinner, as there was no way they could manage to make anything with the kitchen taken over by treats. Their neighbors and close family members would be gifted some baked goods the next morning. The thing with the Kangs was that Seulgi’s patience had to come from somewhere, and his parents could very well have been monks with their peacefulness, That, and the twinkle of joy in Seungwan’s eyes as he baked was something none of them could bring themselves to break.

The small boy went home merrily right after dinner, his mother had come to pick him up and politely apologised for her son’s lack of control, and said they were also stocked up on baked goods. It seemed like Seungwan had been on a streak those days, and the Sons had already run out of people to take some treats out of their hands. The next day Seungwan was going to spend the morning with Jihyo, they didn’t really have anything to do, but the Baes were known to never wake up early on sundays and the Parks were early risers, not to mention chronic insomniacs, so Jihyo was early to bed, late to sleep and early to rise. Eight in the morning, Seungwan was greeted with the Parks already full steam into their day.

Jihyo was freshly out of the shower, most likely had already gone and exercised that morning, mr Park was finishing putting the laundry up to dry and mrs Park passed them by with her hands full with cleaning products, on her way to the cupboard. He was quickly ushered in and they headed to the kitchen, it was the family’s favorite place, first mistake. Seungwan was very excited, and asked if he could do some baking, as they were already all in the kitchen and he felt inspired, mrs Park said she didn’t mind, as long as he didn’t make much of a mess, but she knew the boy wouldn’t. That was the second mistake, the third mistake was having mama Park join in on the baking, she wasn’t really allowed to cook at home and baking with her second son, as they considered Seungwan, would be great.

With all that, the Parks ended their morning with too many pastries, mama Park just took them with her to the restaurant to demand all her employees take some home. On her way to work, she dropped Seungwan at the Baes and went on her way. Monday rolled around, and football training got tight again, they were two weeks away from their second game and Joohyun got busy, along with Seulgi and Sooyoung, that left our serial baker with Yeri, who was unaware of how to proceed or even identify when Seungwan was in one of his frenzies. 

The small Kim was asked if he wanted to hang out, since the two were pretty much just idling around, Yeri agreed and invited Seungwan over to his house, obviously, our baker suggested it would be a good idea to make some treats and Yeri and mr Kim’s bottomless pits called stomachs were very enthusiastic about the idea, they regretted it a little but were happy enough with the visual of endless treats taking over their dining table, kitchen counters and the coffee table at the living room. Once Seungwan got home that evening was the moment his father saw he needed to intervene, he had already managed to give away everything his older boy had made at their house, then he had received a bundle from his boss as well.

“Wannie, son, can you come here for a moment?” Mr Son called after he had sent Chaeyoung to his room.

“What’s up, dad?”

“Sit with me for a moment.” He pats the couch beside him.

Seungwan moves warily, but sits down and lets his father side-hug him. “How much trouble am I in?”

“No trouble at all, I just want to know what’s wrong.”

“What do you mean, dad?”

“Son, you’re not well. You’ve been stress baking for the entirety of last week.” The man starts, tightening his hold a little. “Don’t look so surprised, of course we knew, your mother is worried too.”

“I don’t really know, dad.” The boy gives up. “I’m just- I don’t even know how to explain it.”

“Son, your mother and I talked, and we wanted to talk to you about that.” Mr Son sighs, they had been worried about their sons, Chaeyoung wasn’t doing that well either. “I’m sure she wanted to be here for it, but would you like to go to therapy?”

“Not really, but I think it will be better if I do.”

“Do you want us to look for one?”

“Can you, dad? I’d really appreciate it.”

“Sure thing, I’ll talk to your mom when she gets home and we’ll find you one.”

“Thanks, dad.”

“No problem, kiddo.” Mr Son hugs his kid and sends him away.

The Son children hadn’t been in their best shape lately, Chaeyoung had told his mother it was love troubles, the woman told him to talk to them about anything and mama and papa Son just kept a closer look on him. Seungwan, by nature, was more reserved, and harder to open up to anyone, somehow, he seemed to be more comfortable with talking to his father, the main reason the parents decided to ask him if he wanted to talk to someone. Very glad that the boy accepted, mr Son went to work on it right away, making some calls and asking the people he trusted if they had a therapist to recommend. 

Turned out, mrs Park, his boss and best friend, told him Jihyo’s therapist was great, specialized in teenagers, and gave him the number. Seungwan agreed to see the woman and they scheduled his first visit for that very week.


	28. Mina has an accident, Nayeon is the one suffering

Myoui Mina, a true danseur, had spent all his life with discipline and commitment for the art. The problem with Mina, that his calm and peaceful personality hid very well, is that the boy is the sorest loser the world has seen. His family knew it, Nayeon knew it, Jihyo kind of guessed it, Tzuyu definitely knew it (he had beaten Mina a few times before), but most people would never guess it, for the sole reason that he rarely lost. Here we find Mina sulking in a hospital bed because he never learned how to lose.

The next and last recital of the season was about to happen and his company was holding auditions for it. Mina wanted the lead and would do anything it took to get it, he pushed too far and he was flawless until the girl who was auditioning with him missed a step, he lost his balance and they both fell. The girl got some bruises from the fall, but Mina twisted his ankle, pulled a muscle and cracked one of his foot bones (no idea which), all because he was trying to avoid falling on top of the girl and worsening her injuries.

With that, Myoui Mina, the promising prodigy, was out indefinitely, his mentors were devastated, both had been meaning to get him the lead. Mr Myoui was the one to come and accompany his son, mrs Myoui was in a meeting and had no way of leaving it, Kai was in another country entirely for college (he would always fly over for Mina’s first recitals). Nayeon had been called as well, mr Myoui knew the boy would like to know about it and be kept up to date, the man just told him to go directly to the house and wait for them if they weren’t back yet.

Luckily, Mina and his father were back at the house shortly, the man was a doctor himself, there was little reason to keep his son longer than the time needed for treatment. Mr Myoui helped his kid to the couch, making sure his leg was up and comfortable before moving to the kitchen to get some snacks ready, Nayeon was about to arrive and that one would be a handful, without trouble. They ate, called mrs Myoui to update her about what happened and were enjoying some tea when the doorbell rang followed by some wailing.

“Mina! Tell me you are not dying!” Nayeon wails as soon as mr Myoui opens the door for him, the man not even bothering to hide his amusement.

“He’s fine, Yeonnie.” Mr Myoui greets in a laugh.

“Hello, sir.” The distressed boy bows awkwardly. “Sorry about the screaming.”

“Don’t worry about it. Mina is in the living room, go on.”

With that, Nayeon bows again and dashes to the living room, only to wail again when he sees his boyfriend comfortably sitting on the couch, his leg propped up on the coffee table with a lot of pillows keeping him comfortable and in place. Our resident bunny falls to his knees in front of Mina and wails about him and his leg and how he wasn’t going to be able to perform. Mr Myoui tells his son he was going to his office, he gets a nod and leaves before Nayeon’s crying gives him another headache.

Sure, it was just a leg injury, it would be healed easily enough with just rest and some physical therapy later. But everyone who knew him, expected nothing but Nayeon overreacting and blowing everything out of proportions, not that this time Mina’s injury was to be dismissed, but still. Mina was just patiently waiting for the hysteria to wear off, there was really no way of predicting how long it would take, but once Nayeon was done, he’d be the most attentive person the world has seen, luckily it didn’t take long this time.

“You done?” Mina asked once the sobbing died down.

“I think so. How are you feeling, though?”

“I’m as good as possible, given my leg is useless now, and I’m definitely out of recitals for the near future.”

“Well, for what’s worth, you are the number one ballerino for me.”

“Thanks.” Mina chuckles. “And it’s called danseur.”

“Gesundheit.”

“No- You know what, you are lucky you have a pretty face.”

“I have a pretty everything, you just haven’t seen it yet.”

“Are you propositioning me, mr Im?” Mina asks, slipping into the greasiest character ever.

“Oh my, mr Myoui, I’m a taken man.” Nayeon plays along and gets coy.

“I didn’t ask if you were commited, I asked if you were propositioning me. Are you trying to act shy now, mr Im?” The danseur adds some seduction.

“But mr Myoui, we shouldn’t.” Our basketballer still plays the modest boy, but approaches his boyfriend anyways.

“We’ll be quiet, I’m sure nobody will catch us.” 

“If you two are done with whatever it is you are doing.” Mrs Myoui decided to intervene, she had been watching long enough and was about to start laughing. “I brought dinner, come eat whenever this roleplay of yours is over.” The woman makes to leave but remembers something. “Oh, and no canoodling in the living room, move to Mina’s room for that.”

The boys are mortified with the interruption, truth be told, none had thought about where they were, and Mina was just trying to get Nayeon out of his worried mindset, he knew the bunny would spiral into a not very good place if left to his own devices. Nayeon had a heart too big, and always worried about those he loves before himself, Mina learned this soon enough and made sure to always take care not to allow him go too far with it. 

Very embarrassed and not at all willing to face mama Myoui at the moment, the boys made their way to the dining room, Mina was managing with his crutches and Nayeon was right behind him to help whenever needed. Nayeon knew they could have just moved to Mina’s room and not face the teasing, but he also knew that Mina had to eat in order to take his medication and whatever the hospital had given him would wear off pretty soon, personal experience (a gruesome game about a year prior). 

Needless to say, dinner was very pleasant….. For mama and papa Myoui, that is.


	29. The plan changes

Okay, so, there is a common courtesy between people who practice the same activity, some unspoken and universally agreed upon code in which any participant with a shred of respect for the activity follows and demands the others will follow as well. Today we have coach Zhen, a despicable man with a rather sad life story, doing everything he can to guide the fighters to his misconduct and keep them there. If it wasn’t enough that Jihyo carried the team for an year already, and also got them qualified in the first round with his high score, the man only saw it was an obligation.

The seniors who Jihyo was forced to step down for got cocky with their score, despite knowing their contribution was minimal. Coach Zhen, the idiot, was loudly and arrogantly praising the older boys and making sure Jihyo was listening. Now, our dear Jigglypuff lovechild could be canonised, but he didn’t have the cold blood to just be offended and pretend nothing is happening, nor would anyone seeing this right now and knowing how the boy respected the sport. So, the plan changed.

Jihyo intended to throw his fight for the interstate, but they were just in the semi-final for the district and they were already that full of themselves. It was enough, Jihyo tried being patient, he tried to help them a little more, but rudeness is something he will never accept, our wrestler made his decision to submit the form, quitting the club the afternoon before the next round. That meant today, it was halfway through training and he had enough, Jihyo just lured his sparring partner into hitting him and did nothing to avoid the blow. With a knee to his gut, Jihyo had the perfect excuse to finish training earlier and he just walked out saying he was going to the nurse’s office over his shoulder but never stopping.

A few blows were normal in a contact sport, the hit wasn’t even close to being enough to actually have Jihyo sent to the nurse, so he just showered and headed to the student office. Normally the students would just hand the form to the teacher responsible for the club, but they could hand it over directly at the student office and speed things up, as most mentors would take a lot of time trying to convince them not to quit, and the secretary would just ask if they were certain and then stamp it when they confirmed. 

“Mr Park, it’s rare to see you around here.” The secretary greeted. “Is there a problem?”

“Mrs Shin, good afternoon.” Jihyo bows to the woman. “Not a problem, per se. I came to quit the greco-roman club. Could I have a form, please?”

“Certainly, may I ask the reason?”

“I’m not aiming for a sports scholarship, it’s not important that I keep good results there.” The boy says, filling the form. “I was planning on quitting before the end of the year anyhow, and the chemistry club will give me a better chance at getting a scholarship anyways.”

“It’s good that you are sure of what you want.” The woman pulls out the stamp, ready to officialise the removal from the team. 

“Here you go, mrs Shin.” The boy hands over the form, getting the stamp immediately. “I should get going, thank you for everything, mrs Shin.”

“Not a problem, dear.” She dismisses, waving the boy goodbye. “If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to come back.”

“I will, mrs. Thank you again.” Jihyo bows one last time and leaves the office.

Mrs Shin was a nice woman, she deeply cared about the students and genuinely tried to help them to the best of her abilities. The good thing is that she will grant your favor if you have a reason strong enough, which Jihyo was counting on, because the reason for quitting he wrote down in the form should only be read by coach Zhen once he decides to investigate why his best fighter isn’t showing up. It’s not that the reason Jihyo gave the woman wasn’t real, it just was a fraction of his motives but she wasn’t into sports, nor did the woman would understand how undignified what the coach was doing is.

Our wrestler feels light, and decides to get some ice cream on the way home. Dahyun would drop whatever he was doing if Jihyo called, but he wanted to be alone at the moment and left the pale boy alone. Jihyo walked slowly, enjoying the late afternoon and his cheap vanilla ice cream, sure, he had a michelin star chef as a mother, but his favorite brand was a cheap one Seungwan got him addicted to when they were kids, simply because it was the only one they could afford with the pocket money they got back then. It tastes more like milk than vanilla, and it was maybe a little too sweet, but it brought back memories of worryless summer afternoons and laughter and happiness with his best friend.

Once Jihyo did get home, his mother was about to leave for work, she was surprised seeing her son home that early, but hugged him tight and called work to tell them she wasn’t going that day once he said he left the team. Mr Park was travelling to Jeju that week, they had some trouble with their servers there and he went down to solve the problem himself before the company lost all their data. Mrs Park called her husband and told him to be available for a video call at eight, saying that Jihyo had left the wrestling team and the man confirmed he would be waiting without needing further explanation.

“Mom, it’s alright, you don’t have to do all this.”

“Hyo, I’m your mother, what else should I be doing if not supporting my son?” She sighs lightheartedly. “And your father would drop everything too, but we both saw he was just inside that machine thingy and needs a shower before he can talk to you too.”

“Thanks mom.” Jihyo hugs his mother tighter.

“Why don’t you take a bath, relax a little, I’ll make us something nice for dinner and we’ll wait for your father to call as we eat.”

“Okay.” He kisses his mother and heads to his parents’ bathroom, the only one in the house with a bathtub.

Mrs Park smiles softly as she watches her son walk up to relax a little, Jihyo always felt better after a bath, he loved soaking in the water and letting his worries float away. It was his father’s fault really, he first put their son in a tub and told him to imagine his troubles were floating away, then told him to let those worries float down the drain with the water when he was done. It was after the first time Jihyo and Seungwan fought, something about Chaeyoung being bullied and Seungwan not approving of Jihyo beating the bullies into stopping, she also reprimanded Jihyo back then, but the kid just said he’d do it again because nobody is mean to his little brother and walks away.

Mama Park made some traditional dishes, chicken feet (Jihyo’s favorite), bibimbap, kimbap and some army stew, the last one just to get her husband jealous. Mr Son called sometime after she started, asking if everything was fine, she said Jihyo had just left the wrestling team and she needed the evening to talk to her son and make sure he was alright and that the decision wasn’t something he would regret, the man understood, wished them luck and asked to be kept up to date with the happenings, he and his wife saw Jihyo as his own, the same as the Parks saw his kids as theirs.

“Mom?” Jihyo came back wearing his pajamas and looking much better.

“Kitchen.” She answers and waits for him to arrive. “Can you set up the tablet in the tripod? We will wait for your father while we eat, I’m sure you are hungry.”

“Sure mom, where do I set it?”

“On the dinner table, there’s too much food for the counter.” 

“Well, I’m sure ready to eat, no need to keep dieting anyway.”

Both laugh a little, mrs Park worries but manages to not let it show. Jihyo sets everything up, he also connects a microphone and speakers, might as well just go all out, he missed his dad and took every chance he had to talk to his parents like this. Turns out, his mom had maybe exaggerated a little, and papa Park was very bummed out when he first saw the feast his wife and son were having without him, but this was about Jihyo quitting wrestling, something he loved, and the couple making sure their kid was alright.

“I’m going to let this one go just because Hyo quit wrestling.” Is the first thing mr Park says.

“Oh, honey, you can just order something over there.” Mrs Park teases, her voice sickenly sweet.

“Don’t you ‘oh honey’ me! I demand the same treatment once I get back on thursday!”

“I can do friday with a movie night and have Seungwan take Jihyo away.” 

“You two know I’m right here, right?!” The boy decides to intervene.

“Just wait there and look handsome, mommy and daddy are talking.” Mr Park teases. “I’ll take the offer, but you have to throw in going out to dance before the movie and cuddling.”

“Deal, what are you in the mood to dance?” Mrs Park agrees quickly.

“I’m in for some waltzing, it’s been a while since we’ve done that just the two of us.”

“I’ll see where we can go for that, and have everything ready when you get back.”

“Good, now tell us what happened.” The man directs to his son, who was too focused on his chicken feet to mind his parents.”

“Hyo?” Mr Park insists.

“Oh, I’m existing now?” Jihyo jabs playfully. “I thought I was supposed to just be here and look handsome.”

“And you aren’t managing the handsome at all.” Mama Park plays along, but gets serious right after. “Tell us what is this about you quitting your wrestling.”

“Well, remember how I said coach Zhen signed me up for a category below my own, and that he wasn’t being very professional?”

“We remember, but you said you wanted to try anyway, and that you would quit when you felt like you couldn’t keep going.” Mr Park’s voice was light, but his family knew this was him trying not to burden his son even more.

“Well, today some of the seniors were being jerks about our results, and talking like they were the ones that got us through the first round, but without my scores the team wouldn’t have qualified at all.” Jihyo explains, his frustration evident. “And when coach Zhen arrived, he started agreeing with them and practically said I didn’t do more than my obligation. I mean, I know I’m supposed to be a team player despite the matches being individual, but denying everything I did and how everyone knows they wouldn’t have qualified without me scoring like I did just irked me the wrong way.”

Jihyo rants, and his parents let him, they knew the love the boy had for the sport, and how his coach had been pushing him aside with no regards to his hard work and his ranking in the sport. Sure, Jihyo was very clear when he said he wasn’t interested in a sports scholarship, he planned to double-major and if he was required to keep playing he wouldn’t be able to keep his grades from plummeting, but he still loved greco-roman. The boy continued his rant, and they knew he would speak until he had told them the full story.

“So, tomorrow was supposed to be the beginning of the second round of preliminaries, and today I just had it, it was just a lot of jerkery going around, and I wasn’t about to just stay there and let them diminish the rest of the team like that, so I faked an injury, well, I wasn’t really hurt to begin with. But I made Junmyeon knee me in the stomach and just excused myself, then I showered and went directly to the student office. Mrs Shin asked me why I wanted to quit, and I told her that I didn’t want a sport scholarship, and that I was going to quit before the year ended anyway.

She just accepted it and approved my form, but that’s not what I wrote down, I couldn’t just let it slide like that, so I wrote the real reason I quit. That coach Zhen had been pushing for the seniors to have some sort of advantage that was not earned, and that he signed me up for a category that was below mine knowing how hard it would be for me to drop the weight and being completely conscious that he needed my scores if he wanted to qualify. And it was like I was nothing but a stepping stone for them to get something that nobody else was aware of.”

Jihyo finished, panting a little for having ranted so passionately, mr Park was looking solem and didn’t really say anything, his wife, however, got up from her seat and hugged their son tightly, it was a matter of time until the boy started crying and they knew it was better to just let him get everything out of his chest than bottle it up, his therapist also talked to them and said they should allow him to get his emotions out, instead of questioning him while he was speaking up. Jihyo had some problems with repressing himself when he was interrupted in whatever he wanted to communicate, not that his parents were ever anything short of understanding and supportive, but it was the boy’s nature to consider whatever he had to say unimportant if he was interrupted.

“You want to say anything else, son?” Mr Park asks, he felt a little lacking for not being with his family right then, but neither could have predicted what happened.

“I think I said everything, dad. Thanks.” Jihyo sobs, still not falling apart.

“You want to talk more or do something else?” Mrs Park asks, never releasing her hold.

“I think I want to finish dinner. Can we talk about something else?”

“Sure can.” Papa Park perks up. “How about we talk you finally growing that beard?”

“I think that’s not a bad plan. We still don’t even know what color it is!”

“Mom, what are the chances my bear will be anything but black?”

“You never know. Mine is a mix of light brown and blonde.”

“Is that why you dye it every time you let it grow?” Jihyo was honestly curious at that.

“It looks ridiculous, and we don’t talk about my natural beard in this family.”

“We do now.” Jihyo begs with the power of puppy dog eyes.

“No, we never talk about my beard in this family.” Mr Park is unrelenting in the matter.

They just laugh and keep talking about nothing, by the end of dinner, Jihyo was already feeling much better, his father promised they would go out and do whatever he wanted to do as a family, it didn’t matter it would be a thursday, mama Park already declared she would communicate the school of his absence on that day. That day Jihyo slept much lighter than he had since he found out he was being pushed around by coach Zhen’s whims.


	30. Telling his friends he quit

Friday comes with Jihyo waking up with puffy and red rimmed eyes, he talked it out with his parents and had felt loved and supported the previous evening, but he still cried it out later, mama Park asked if he wanted company, but Jihyo told her he wanted some time by himself. Today was going to be a hard day, he couldn’t really disguise his eyes, and he was certain Nayeon would throw hands when he saw it, don’t get him wrong, he loved his bunny, but the boy wasn’t the best at self control.

Jihyo figured he could wear his glasses instead of contacts, no point in caring about training anyway, so no need to worry about it, mrs Park asked if he really wanted to go to school, she could call and excuse him, but Jihyo argued that there was no point in skipping and Nayeon and Jeongyeon would just break into their house demanding to know why he wasn’t in class and who would they need to murder. There was no arguing the older boys would really do that, so mama Park just drove her son to school without further questions.

“Hyo, are you ready to go, love?”

“Almost ready mom, I can’t find my tie.”

“Can’t you go without it?”

“Technically, I can. But I really like to wear it.”

“Then go without it, you are going to be late if we don’t leave already.”

“Alright.” Jihyo grumbles and grabs his backpack. 

Mrs Park just laughs, she knew her son was kind of a sucker for rules and liked his uniform well aligned, and very much complete, Jihyo even insisted on ironing his uniform himself to make sure nothing was wrinkled or crooked. Now mama Park loved her son, but Jihyo looked very handsome when he wore his uniform, it wasn’t like his suits, but it had a different feel to it, and not wearing his tie was just adding to his handsomeness, Jihyo really did take after his father, which made the woman miss her husband a bit more.

“Call me if you need anything, and don’t hesitate to ask to go home if you don’t feel fine, alright?” Mrs Park reminds Jihyo as he gets out of the car.

“I will, thanks mom.”

Jihyo is a bit early, so he decides to go and see Dahyun before class begins, the pale boy was sleeping on his desk and Chaeyoung had been drawing on his face masterfully. Jihyo thinks this might be a common occurrence, and decides it’s better to not mention that Dahyun now has a unibrow, red dots on his cheeks, lipstick all over and making his lips look three times bigger, it was priceless. The visitor makes sure to capture the image and control himself before waking up the unsuspecting victim. Dahyun was making Jihyo’s day better in his sleep, maybe it was time to fight harder for this wonderful boy.

“Dubs.” Jihyo calls, shaking the other boy awake, Chaeyoung had already bolted. “Bae Dahyun, wake up, sexy.”

“You keep sweet talking like that and I might believe you.” Dahyun answers without opening his eyes.

“You should definitely believe me.” 

“What are you doing here this early?” The pale boy gives up and straightens himself on his chair.

“I came to see you. Had a shitty day yesterday and you always make me feel better.”

“You really are after my heart, no?!” That’s when he notices the red eyes. “And you’ve been crying.”

“I quit wrestling yesterday. I was so frustrated I cried last night.”

“Oh, and you are alright? We are going out tonight and I’m sleeping over at your house. Today calls for cuddling, those bad romantic movies you love and junk food.”

“They are not bad. And it’s not like your b-side horror films are that much better.”

“Oh, like you don’t laugh yourself to crying with me whenever we watch them.” Dahyun protests, he does have a point. “But are you alright now?”

“I’m fine, I ranted to mom and dad yesterday and cried my frustrations out, so I’m really fine today.”

“That’s good. And you should just wear your glasses now, it’s very appealing.”

“Are you propositioning me Bae?”

“I’m trying to. But I’m also just speaking truths, and that no tie two buttons loose thing you are doing? Well, keep doing it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. But now I should head out, still have to tell Nayeonnie and Jeongie.”

“Good luck with that. And don’t forget, we already have a date settled.”

“I’d never forget. Talk to you at lunch.”

“Not if I’m busy killing Chaeyoung.”

“If you need help disposing of the body, just text me.”

“Will do.”

It was far from surprising that Dahyun knew what his best friend did, they had this weird dynamic where one would pretend to fall for the other’s pranks just to make them happy. They were the cutest, and Jihyo’s heart warmed a little more at the thought, he thought of Seungwan and decided to walk a little faster so he could tell the trouble duo already and get to his best friend already.

“JEONG, WAKE UP! HYO IS LOOKING CUTE AGAIN!” Nayeon kicks his friend awake as soon as the younger’s head pops up by the door.

“C’mon, Yeonnie, you don’t have to sh-” Jeongyeon stops mid sentence and pulls his phone out.

Jihyo sighs and humors the two, posing for pictures and even acting cute when Nayeon asks him to, despite wanting to kill himself right after. This time his hair was just combed, and it fell on his face with the poses, making him look exceptionally cuter. Jeongyeon was very happy with the photos he took, but noticed the red, puffy eyes, making Nayeon stop and pay attention to their baby, they weren’t usually serious, to see Jeongyeon not joking made the eldest helt immediately.

“What happened.” Jeongyeon prompts.

“I got really frustrated yesterday and quit the greco-roman team.” Jihyo explains, getting hugged immediately. “I’m alright, though, talked it out with mom and dad yesterday.”

“You have been crying, though.” Nayeon points out.

“I just wanted to let my frustration out, I’m fine now. It’s just, I was so mad yesterday.”

“Alright, but we are having a cuddling night!” Jeongyeon decides.

“Dahyun beat you both to it.” Jihyo chuckles.

“Don’t care, we are coming over too.” The tallest boy declares.

“Fine, but I’m going out on a date with Dubs after class.”

“No worries, your mom will let us in and we’ll wait for you two.” Nayeon chirps. “And Mina and Tzu are coming too. I’m guessing you are telling Wannie, so tell him about the sleepover as well. And Joonie, but that’s obvious.”

“Fine.” Jihyo concedes, untangling himself from his clingy friends. “But you two are telling Dubs that you are crashing our sleepover.”

Jihyo leaves before the other two can protest, they all know how scary mad Dahyun is, and the boy would be very mad knowing their alone time was turned into a group hangout, but they were going out on a date after school and that should appease him a little. During his musings, Jihyo arrives at his classroom, seeing Seungwan and Joohyun already there. What he doesn’t really understand is how do people think he is the one dating the critter when Seungwan and Joohyun have honey dripping from their eyes whenever they look at each other.

“You two are disgusting.” Is how Jihyo greets the couple.

“Hey, Hyo.” Joohyun greets back.

“What happened? Why did you cry?” Seungwan asks right away.

“That was what I would get at after the greetings.”

“Yeah yeah, speak up.” The smallest boy gets impatient.

“I quit the team yesterday and had to cry my frustration out. I’m alright, though, mom and dad talked me through it.”

“Fine. But why don’t I believe you completely?” Seungwan prods.

“Because you love him and will never not worry.” Joohyun decides to step in. 

“Nayeon decided we are all having a sleepover tonight, probably the entire weekend.” Jihyo tells them. “But I’m going on a date with Dubs after school before that.”

“Uuuhhhh.” The damn critter taunts.

“Yeah, mom will be home, though. So come whenever you want, just don’t go through my stuff again.”

“Can’t make any promises.” Joohyun says and smiles evilly. 

Their teacher arrives then and the subject is dropped until further notice. The students who saw Jihyo wearing his glasses and with his hair slightly messy had started rumors that were very true and the entire school had heard how he had stepped up the handsome game that day, needless to say, Nayeon and Jeongyeon were saved from Dahyun’s wreath by the sudden wave of confessions some brave students decided to direct to Jihyo.


	31. Sana meets more people

The word that Park Jihyo was wearing glasses and looking the cutest had spread like wildfire, girls were squealing, some boys were frowning others were curious. Sana was definitely curious, him and Jihyo were good friends, and the matter of eyesight had come up a few times, specifically the first time they went fishing and the boy showed up in some unbreakable, floating, coffee making sports glasses that had the japanese wondering if they were really needed. 

Now, our favorite hippie got curious, for what it was worth, he had never seen Jihyo with his normal glasses, just those alien technology things he wore whenever they went fishing, and he already thought the slightly younger boy to be very cute, so this should be good. Don’t blame Sana, he had a liking for cuteness, now that he stopped to think about it, maybe that was one of the reasons people were so insistent he was gay, who knows, he just didn’t think the gender of whomever he got interested in was ever an issue.

People had too many rules, Sana mused, maybe that’s why so many are not able to live to their fullest, or that satisfied with themselves. He just likes what he likes and there was no problem with that at all, his parents also told him it was alright to have his preferences, why do most people insist on regulating others, he’d never know. Getting to the cafeteria was an experience on this particular day, a lot of small groups loitering around, lots of girls squealing and trying to whisper to each other, he smiled and headed to the line to get his food.

“Hey Ji!” Sana greets as he approaches his friend.

“Sacchan! Come and sit here.” Jihyo welcomes him happily, patting the seat beside him. “Kids, this is Sana. These are Nayeon, Mina and Dahyun.” He points out as he introduces.

“Nice finally meeting you all.”

“So you are the famous Minatozaki.” Nayeon says ominously, he always pretended to be investigating whatever new person he was introduced to, didn’t matter how much he knew of the person.

“I don’t know about famous, maybe my dad would be more of a celebrity than I am.”

“How so?” The bunny got interested and dropped his façade.

“Well, that is a bottle of Hanlim eye drops, yes?” Sana points to a small bottle beside the older boy.

“Yes?” Nayeon sounds very curious now.

“The formula changed about five years ago, remember?” The japanese get nods in return. “My dad was the one to come up with it, he developed the new formula to make it burn a little less when applied.”

“Isn’t your dad the computer guy, though?” Jihyo questions.

“He is, mostly. But he does have a degree in chemistry and likes to dabble. Remember that incense he gave you last week? He developed that with pheromones to make you not tense your muscles.”

“Oooh!” The ex-wrestler is impressed.

“You are telling me your dad is the man who changed my life!” The older boy almost screams, his new friend also just nodding. “I must tell your dad I love him, this was the best thing that happened for us who wear contacts daily.”

“You are more than welcome to come by and thank him personally whenever.”

“Don’t invite him because he will show up.” Mina intervenes. “It’s nice to finally meet you, by the way.”

“You are Mina, right? Jihyo did mention you had an accident.” 

“Well, it’s part of the art. The girl paired up with me lost her balance and well, here we are.”

“I get it. It’s nice you are feeling well enough.” Sana chirped.

“So, mr Minatozaki.” Dahyun decided to join. “Would you mind telling us why all the girls have a sweet spot for you and some guys too?”

“I would say, maybe ask mr Park here?” Sana isn’t about to go down alone. “All I heard today was ‘oh, Jihyo is looking cute’, ‘have you seen Park today’, ‘Jihyo be looking good’.”

“Oh, do tell us about that.” Jeongyeon prompted, him and Tzuyu had been waiting for a chance to join the conversation.

“You guys didn’t hear? The entire cheerleading squad was in the hallway squealing about him.” 

“The entire squad? Oh my.” Dahyun does his best scandalized performance.

“That’s your chance, Hyo.” Tzuyu joins in. “It’s the dream isn’t it? To have cheerleaders fawning over you.”

“You all suck.” Jihyo gives up.

“That too, but you love us anyway.” Nayeon offers with a disgusting smirk spreading on his lips. “And don’t say you aren’t flattered, it’s the dream to have all the girls riled up like that.”

“Aren’t you and Mina dating?” The big eyed boy questions.

“And?” Mina asks. “We are still guys, though.”

“This is wrong on so many levels that I’m just gonna finish my lunch here.” Jihyo dismisses his friends and concentrates on his food.

The boys keep talking and teasing him, but mostly, they get to know Sana a bit more. Tzuyu and Jeongyeon already knew him, the older one not so much, but Mina was interested in meeting another japanese, Nayeon found himself weirdly fond of this new acquaintance, and Dahyun found his new acquaintance extremely funny. It was a good meal, and Jihyo was already expecting to be teased, just not from Sana. Dahyun made sure to invite the boy to join them on their sleepover that day.


	32. Weekend sleepover at the Park estate

Okay, it’s not really an estate, just a big house in a medium neighborhood. Jihyo’s dad was an heir, and it’s not like he was disowned without a single penny left, not that old man Park knew of, that is. Jihyo’s father was very aware he would be written off his father’s will soon enough, so he did what anyone planning their future would, he made his future wife open an account for them in her name and started making untraceable transfers, nothing that would draw attention, and he went to the bank and talked to the manager with mrs Park, the bank was aware the account would be receiving big amounts.

Jihyo, however, got tangled into the family business because his grandfather bartered him for a company that wasn’t even that important, but was popular and it would put the Park name on people’s mouths. Neither mr Park nor his wife were aware of exactly what was agreed upon and how to undo the deal. It took a lot of asking, some pride being thrown out and a promise of a family dinner for papa Park to get his sister to help him get his son’s life back, the woman was battling for her own kid, but that was already in the works, she might as well do this for the man who raised her. Not that Jihyo knew much about it, he just knew not to getinto a relationship because ‘legal punishment’.

Right now, we have mr Park (he decided to catch a flight home for the weekend) at the supermarket with his second cart rushing to restock after his son called and told him everybody was coming over to spend the weekend. Mama and papa Park loved it, Jihyo was an only child, they knew he got lonely from time to time, and the boy grew up with bringing friends over on a whim, they blame Seungwan, the boy was too accommodating, which, in turn, they blame mama Son for. Chaeyoung was the wildchild, he would just show up at the Parks and spend however long he felt like, and leave on a whim, the Parks loved him regardless.

After Nayeon and Jeongyeon were befriended, the couple didn’t even bat an eye before taking the duo in, they instigated Jihyo in ways Seungwan and Chaeyoung couldn’t, their minds and thirst for knowledge tied them to each other, while for the Son brothers it was pure fraternal love. With other kids in their house, came more kids, and now mama and papa Park just asked how many to restock their pantry properly.

Seungwan and Joohyun were the first ones to arrive, saying Jihyo was on a date with Dahyun and told them to just come whenever that they’d be let in, it was true, though, in the Park house, it didn’t matter much if Jihyo was there yet or not, the boys were all at home regardless. Mr Park was very happy his son was out on a date, but made a mental note to call his sister later and see how things are going on her end, the sooner they manage to untangle Jihyo from the family business the better.

The next ones in were Nayeon and Jeongyeon, they had stayed late on the chemistry club, their next competition was coming up and they wanted to set their game plan, it was the semi-finals after all. Jihyo should have been with them, but with everything going on, they just didn’t mention it to him and counted on Dahyun to keep the boy distracted. Sunmi asked why a third of her main players was missing, but was completely positive about it, especially now that the damn coach would be getting what he deserved, not that this vendetta had anything to do with the guy’s nasty personality. 

Jihyo was supposed to be meeting up with the team to head to their competition around the time he would be arriving home with Dahyun, and instead of going to fight for people who didn’t respect their teammates, much less the sport. The boy’s phone had been blowing up since the training session had begun after lunch, and from what he could see, nobody bothered to check what was really happening, and the text messages were getting slowly more threatening. It was all a source of high entertainment for the sorta couple on their small date.

Dahyun had asked why Jihyo wasn’t answering the phone, to which the boy promised to answer once they got home, put it on loudspeaker do that everyone could hear when he broke the news to coach Zhen that he wasn’t part of the team anymore so there was no point in waiting around for him to board the bus, if the coach was going to call, that is. But, right now, Jihyo was having a great time and was not going to let the team who abandoned him ruin his time with the man he loves. Once the uncouple got to the Parks’ house, everyone was already there, with some additions.

Chaeyoung asked where Seungwan was going with an overnight bag, because if it was the Baes he wouldn’t need to bring one, then announced he was going too. Sana had taken Soyoung to see his mother about massage gels for severe muscle pains, and tagged along after a quick call to his mother. Seulgi and Yeri showed up because the youngest had called Nayeon to gossip (they did that a lot) and found out about the get together. Mina had come from his physical therapy and Tzuyu arrived after his shift at the shelter, getting there at the same time Jihyo and Dahyun were walking up the street.

Once inside, everyone greeted, mr Park had declared he would be cooking some pho because it was easier and cheaper for this many people, and Jihyo and Dahyun got changed, it was time to, finally, answer the calls from the greco-roman team. Jihyo sat down in the middle of the living room and waited for the next call from coach Zhen, telling everyone to be quiet. By this time, if the bus hadn’t left the school, the team would be about half an hour late already, if traffic helped. Sure enough, the call came in.

“Hello.” Jihyo answers with the calmest voice he could muster.

“PARK! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE THREE HOURS AGO FOR TRAINING AND NEVER SHOWED UP. YOU BETTER HAVE A NICE EXCUSE FOR DOING THIS OR-” Coach Zhen fires, then Jihyo cuts him before the threat could be made.

“Or what? You are going to make me carry the team on my back again? Or maybe you’ll do your job and get your boys in proper competition shape.”

“How dare you talk back to me like that? Who do you think you are? You better get here in five minutes, we are already late.” The man seethes.

“You are indeed late. But I’m at home, wearing my pajamas and ready for a fun weekend with my friends.”

“What? You are scheduled to compete tonight, what are you talking about? This prank of yours isn’t funny.”

“There is no prank, coach Zhen, I’m at my house. You better get that bus moving or your team might lose for absence. You know, don’t show and the other team wins?”

“We would be there already if it wasn’t for you and your selfishness, making the team wait like this.”

“I’m not following, you are the one who said I should drop my category for your boys and I did, you get cocky because of my scores, you fail to admit that you needed me scoring high so your boys could qualify. How am I being the selfish one?”

“You are getting so many punishments for this. GET HERE NOW!”

“You are not understanding, I’m not your puppet, and I’m not going. You have no power to punish me for anything at all.”

“I’m the coach for the greco-roman team, what are you talking about me not having power?”

“Exactly, you are the coach for the greco-roman team, which I’m not a member of. You have no power, and I’d like you to remember I always record any calls I have with you, in case you forgot. The principal will be hearing this first thing monday.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“Mr Zhen.” Mr Park steps in, he had been sitting beside Jihyo the entire time. “What you are doing is harassing my boy, the very reason my wife told you months ago that all your calls with Jihyo would be recorded, this will be brought to the headmaster monday morning. I advise you to stop right now as I’m already pretty upset with your attitude towards my son, my wife is not as lenient.”

“Stop being ridiculous and get here right now!” The coach hasn’t given up yet.

“Mr Zhen, my son has quit your team, it has already been approved and you hold no grounds for your demands, I do not appreciate your tone and this call is over. I will be blocking your number. Have a nice competition.” Mr Parks ends the conversation and indeed blocks the number.

“Well, dad, now you know how he talks to anyone who is not one of ‘his boys’.”

“Then good thing you quit.” Mr Park hugs his son. “Dubs, make sure he gets lots of hugs and kisses tonight. All of you make sure of that.” He points to all the boys at the last part, before standing up and heading to the kitchen.

“You heard the man, let’s lineup so we can fulfill our mission.” Yeri quips and launches himself at Jihyo.

All the boys were feeling uneasy after witnessing how their nice little ball of love and fluff got treated by that piece of trash. Yeri was just a little tactless about these things and this was his way of not making things awkward, they all just laughed when Jihyo, a wrestler, got pinned and started begging to be helped out of the beagle’s clutches. Obviously, it was just Jihyo’s way of telling them he was fine and liked Yeri’s solution for the situation.

The others just lined up, making sure to let Mina be next, as he couldn’t stand too long with his ankle messed up. Surprisingly, Tzuyu was one of the messier ones, he was a sobbing mess when the call had ended, and ruined Jihyo’s shirt when his turn came, Dahyun was the calmest, perhaps because he had gone on a date with the boy and knew it was not as bad as it might look for the others. They ended up having a lot of fun that weekend, though the Parks’ bank account got a significant dent, mama and papa Park never minded anything if their son was happy


	33. The mystery girl with Minatozaki Sana

It was an unusual monday morning, classes had been called off because there had been some explosion on the powerlines behind the school during the night and the teachers had been called in for an emergency meeting, as the school had no electricity at all and most classes wouldn’t be able to take place, the students were told to remain on school grounds but were free to do as they wished until the faculty could come up with a plan. Mrs Park’s talk with the headmaster would have to wait a little longer, it seemed.

The announcement happened about half an hour before, and Sana was still not at school, he would always get there at the last possible time, no exceptions. When asked, the boy would argue that he was never really late, so why waste precious time with his family. This morning we have Jihyo, Mina, Jeongyeon and Seungwan hanging by the gate, they were trying to not get tangled in the quite violent game of tag their friends had started. It began with Tzuyu running after Yeri, nobody knows what that was about yet, who jumped behind Dahyun, who got pissed because it interrupted his talk with Nayeon and Jihyo and then everyone was running around trying to beat someone else up.

Our lovely japanese hippie came up the street with a girl beside him, it was a very pretty girl too, and they were clearly walking together, the first one to notice was Nayeon, who observed a little before speaking up.

“Isn’t that Sana?” The tall bunny asked.

“Oh my, I believe it is.” Mina played along. “Don’t tell Chaeng.”

“Don’t tell chaeng what?” Chaeyoung, who had been lingering around, heard his name and got interested.

“Isn’t that your man coming up with a pretty girl beside him?” Seungwan taunts.

“I don’t have a man, but wha-” Chaeyoung stops when he gets to the gate and sees Sana.

“Isn’t he walking with that girl? Are they together? They look close.” The older Son keeps on.

“Now that you mention it, they do look close.” Mina joins.

“But they aren’t that close, she is walking a little behind him.” Jihyo decides to chime in.

“They do look good together, though.” Jeongyeon gives his thoughts too. “They might have just met, look how shy they are with each other.”

Chaeyoung was just standing there and watching Sana and the mystery woman walk up the street. He was listening, but he was too worried about what they were seeing to actually say anything.

“Maybe they met recently? They are both shy around each other, look.” Seungwan reasons.

“That could be it. Let’s see when they get here.” Nayeon suggests.

Seeing their friends interested in something down the street and out of their field of vision, the boys who were still running around and hitting each other stopped their activities and went over to investigate. When they saw Sana and a very pretty woman walking towards the school, they decided to offer their 

“Isn’t that Sacchan? He’s got himself a pretty lady.” Dahyun says as he drops himself over his stunned friend.

“Get off me, you are sweaty.” Chaeyoung complains, moving his friend out of him.

“What?” Yeri comes right behind. “Sacchan got a girl? Oh, a pretty one too.”

“Yall are kidding, right? Sana got a girl?” Tzuyu sounds dubious. “Oh, he did. Interesting.”

“Ddeulgi, get over here!” Yeri calls. “Sacchan got a girl with him.”

Seulgi does stop his talk with Sooyoung and walks over, the football captain following to see what the fuss was about. They both don’t really say anything, just try to not break out laughing at the whole ordeal. Chaeyoung was still looking at the scene, unbelieving, Yeri and Dahyun coming up with the most romantic scenarios as to how the two could have gotten together, Jihyo and Jeongyeon had taken pity on the boy and stopped but Seungwan was not about to have mercy on his younger brother, the other boys had gotten distracted and were talking amongst themselves, still listening to what the three were talking about and feeling bad for Chaeyoung.

When the two figures do approach, Chaeyoung’s heart is hammering in his chest, Dahyun, Yeri and Seungwan are snickering like lunatics and the others are just plain sympathetic to the small cub. Sana, however, looks chirpy and very excited to be here.

“Good morning, guys!” The japanese hippie greets. “So, just keep heading down the street and the station will come up at your left right when the school is over.”

“Thank you very much. Have a nice day.” The lady says and goes on her way.

“SHE WAS JUST ASKING FOR DIRECTIONS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!” Dahyun and Yeri scream together.

“Huh? Yeah, she looked lost a couple blocks back and I decided to help her out.” Sana looks clueless as to why this was something to be surprised about.

“Don’t mind them too much, Sacchan.” Sooyoung comes to the rescue.

“Hey, Soongie!” The japanese is happy that someone is willing to fill him in. “Why is everybody out here?”

“The vice-principal said there was an explosion on the electric line behind the school last night and there is no power in the area.” The captain explains. “They asked us to stay here and wait a while so they teachers can come up with a solution.”

“Oh, classes are probably getting canceled.” Sana speculated. “If it was really an explosion, they’d have to check the school’s electrical system before allowing students in, any overload could cause an explosion and any short-circuits could damage equipment.”

Some of the boys looked on in wonder, it was easy to forget that Sana was a genius and the son of geniuses, he probably understood more about circuits, how they worked and what could happen if tempered with. 

“What?” 

“You know, we tend to forget you are actually an electronics genius.” Joohyun laughed and hugged the confused boy.

“Just like we all keep forgetting those three are chemistry geniuses and could probably poison us all without leaving a trace.” Sooyoung hugs Sana on the other side and points to the problem trio, who were already bickering.

Sana just agrees and laughs. They all fall into different conversation groups, Chaeyoung was just so relieved that he didn’t even hear the teasing coming from his best friends and his brother.


	34. What are they doing? Oh.

Okay, so this was something. A little crowd was already gathering, mostly familiar faces, other students just got bored and gave up on watching. Sunmi happened to be the teacher called to solve the problem, but she was standing there and watching because she couldn't really understand what this problem was. The woman was deeply troubled, some girls came to get her saying one of her students was in trouble, but this was ridiculous.

“Mrs Lee, good morning.” Jeongyeon greeted, approaching his favorite teacher who looked very lost.

“Yoo, good morning.” The woman greeted back, still a bit dazed.

“What’s happening? Why are this many people hanging around?” The boy questions while approaching.

“Right! You might be able to help.” Sunmi seems to have an idea. “Can you tell me what is happening over there?”

“What are those idiots doing?”

“I was hoping you could help me to understand that, Yoo.”

“Sorry, Sunmi. I have no idea what that might be.” Jeongyeon looks around and spots his boyfriend. “I think I know how to find out, though.”

“How?” 

“Tzuyu comes to school with Nay. He should know what happened.” The boy points out the tall spectator.

“Oh, good to know.” The teacher turns to where she was pointed. “Mr Chou, I was hoping you could help us.”

“Ms Lee, good morning. What would you need?” Tzuyu greets.

“I was hoping you could tell me what’s happening over there?” She points at the problem.

“Oh, that.” Tzuyu chuckles. “They are fighting.” He says with ease.

“Are you sure they are fighting?” Sunmi tries to comprehend the information she’s receiving. “It sure doesn’t look like it.”

“Oh, you are right, they are fighting.” Jeongyeon seems to have understood what was happening.

“Good morning boys.” Mina had arrived and saw two of his friends with a teacher, he went over to check. “What’s the trouble?”

“Minnie, can you point to ms Lee how that is your boyfriend fighting? Because we really can’t and I only know it’s a fight because I was here when it began.” The taller boy asks.

Mina looks over and laughs heartily, Sunmi is still as confused as ever, this is ridiculous.

“Don’t worry, ms Lee.” The japanese boy manages amongst laughter. “The most that will happen with those two are some scratches and a dirty uniform.”

“Still, as the teacher chosen to take care of this, I should give them a punishment. No idea which punishment because I really have no idea what they are doing.”

“Well, I can tell you how it started.” Tzuyu decides to share. “Yeonnie and I were arriving when two kids passed by with their mother, Joonie was at the gate waiting for Wannie as always. When the kids passed by, the little girl screamed ‘tokki’ and waved, both waved back and then Yeonnie said it was useless for Joonie to wave because the girl was clearly talking to him.”

“Oh.” Mina and Jeongyeon understood right away how the ‘fight’ started.

“Are you serious?” Sunmi was baffled. “They are fighting because they want to be the bunny big brother?”

“It was a fight waiting to happen.” Jeongyeon shrugged. “Both want to be the bunny and think the other can’t. Just let them do whatever that is and give them detention.”

“Will that be ever over? I’ve been here for twenty minutes already.” The teacher is doubtful.

“Nobody can tell.” Mina says. “If they aren’t done by the time Jihyo arrives, they’ll be done by force.”

“Fair enough.” Sunmi agrees and goes back to watching the two.

Nayeon and Joohyun had this quarrel about who was the real bunny among the group, absolutely nobody cared about it, and Jihyo had already beaten into them that it was a meaningless argument and should be forgotten. Joohyun was as prideful as Nayeon and neither was willing to concede to that. But the most annoying part was that neither really knew how to fight, at all. Joohyun was a footballer who didn’t know how to make a fist to throw at someone, and Nayeon was a basketballer who lost fights to critters, zero chances that both could really fight each other for real.

It did start with the little girl, both boys loving kids and getting excited that two kids were waving at them. Then Nayeon decided to be, well, Nayeon and Joohyun wasn’t about to stand down either. The pale boy said ‘come at me bro’ and Nayeon went at him. The problem is, neither really understand how a fight should happen, so Nayeon started touching Joohyun’s face, something the older one hated and started touching the other’s face as well, then Nayeon used his height to his advantage and maneuvered behind Joohyun to keep touching his face and dodge the attacks.

Joohyun just put his arms up and his finger went into Nayeon’s nose, who retaliated with licking and putting his thumbs in the shorter one’s ears, the whole thing looked ridiculous, and more of an annoying hug than a real fight, if Mina hadn’t confirmed it was indeed a very serious fight, Sunmi would honestly just keep watching and not do a thing about it. The worst thing coming out of said fight was the boys' uniforms that were crumpled and dirtied with green patches because they rolled on the grass for a while at some point.

Who knows how long after Mina arrived, Jihyo got to the school and saw some familiar faces looking at something along with the mini crowd. Seungwan, Chaeyoung and him had always walked to school together and their arrival was the end of the show even Sunmi was enjoying that morning. Our Jigglypuff lovechild marched straight to the fighting duo as soon as his eyes landed on them, got a hold of both their ears (he had mastered the technique to grab the ears so that they would all face the same direction once broken apart), and marched directly to Sunmi with the screaming troublemakers begging for their ears.

“Ms Lee, good morning.” Jihyo greeted, looking pissed. “These two have been restrained, please do your part.”

“Thank you, mr Park. I was unsure of what was actually happening between them. But I will make sure they are properly disciplined.” Sunmi tries to hold her laughter, angry Jihyo was too cute.

“Thank you ms Lee. I will take my leave, then. See you in class.” Jihyo motions for his friends to disperse.

The boys leave because they don’t want to be on the receiving end of Jihyo’s anger, he might look cute, but he was ruthless and vengeful against anyone who rubbed him the wrong way. Nayeon and Joohyun were waiting very quietly and well behaved for Sunmi to say something. She told the crowd to disperse and motioned for the boys to follow her, they silently grabbed their school bags and skittered behind the woman to the teacher’s lounge. 

“Look, I know you two have your differences, but fighting is not something that will help.” She started. “Whatever it was that started this fight, I’m sure you two could have talked it out. Now, I know you are both in clubs and are important members of those clubs, but you two are on cleaning duty as detention for the next five days.”

Both Nayeon and Joohyun raise their heads at that, they look surprised and not at all happy about the punishment they just got, Sunmi was losing one of her best bets for the week as well, chemistry club would have a competition soon and Nayeon needed to work on the strategies with the rest of the team. But she was a teacher first and foremost, fighting in school grounds was unacceptable and completely against school rules, she had to do her job unbiased. 

“I will write it off on your files as a mild disagreement, but that is as far as I can help you both. Consider yourselves lucky thatI was the one called to stop you, another teacher might have not been so lenient. I know you two need your files clean for the scholarship applications and I’d like you both to still have a chance, so I’m going to do what I can to not dirty it.” Sunmi reminds them of what they were risking. “I’m also asking you both to write apology letters to each other, 500 words each to be delivered in two days. Take this time to reflect on what you two just put at risk.”

The boys are just silent, they didn’t think about what they were doing at all, and just now it hit them that they were being extremely irresponsible in exchange for absolutely nothing. Joohyun already had his eyes watery and Nayeon’s bottom lip was already out and trembling. Sunmi was being as gentle as she could while talking to them, she was one of the few teachers who actually took the time to get to know her students and they loved her right back. She knew these two were good kids with reckless and explosive personalities, and didn’t really want to compromise their future because they were being teens.

“I’m going to give you both a pass for the first class, fix yourselves and make yourselves presentable. Go to the nurse’s office if you need to, and get to your classrooms by the second period.” The woman hands them an absence slip each. “Now go, I’ll see you both after classes to guide you to your punishments. Meet me here.”

The boys grab the slips and leave silently, they were doing a poor job at not getting emotional in front of their teacher, they understood what happened and how much they put at risk because of a stupid argument. Both head to the gym locker room to try and clean up as best as they could, there were some supplies to clean their uniforms at the back, many students got too excited during free periods and needed to get something or the other clean before heading back to class. 

The door closing behind them was what both needed to break down, there was nobody at the locker room at that time, and they would have a while for themselves. There were a lot of apologies, loud crying and snot happening, but both got it out of their systems and dragged themselves to class, uniforms a little better, but ruined faces from the crying.


	35. The Parks

Okay, so we are up for a ride today. Let me take you away from our lovely boys and into the mess of THE Park family. You might think there are two in our story, but they are the same one, our boys just don’t know it yet. The missing link between Sooyoung and Jihyo would be Chorong, the girl was their cousin and younger by three years, both knew her but never knew of each other, and their parents didn’t really interact, or even mentioned, each other. 

It was all Old Man Park’s fault, really, he was too greedy and just juggled the lives of everyone on a whim and left the unassuming person to handle the consequences. He had three kids, Chanyeol was the oldest, bartered at birth for a big merge with the Kims, very influential in the bank business, Seungmin was the second son and had been traded off for the Choi’s pharmaceutical empire, the youngest was Guyri and married off to a hospital group keeping Park as the last name, the Lees were hesitant at first, but got a good deal and conceded.

Sooyoung and Jihyo were the same age, but with Chanyeol making his father disown him, Gyuri was never able to really meet her nephew. Seungmin, always the wildcard, Old Man Park knew it and took it as being a middle kid thing, he mostly ignored whatever his son did thinking it was just to spite him. Gyuri, as the youngest and the woman was just supposed to stand there and look pretty, she wasn’t really disowned but might as well be, she knew Seungmin would inherit everything and her job was to just secure a deal when their father needed her to.

Chanyeol rebelled right after his wedding, when he was told by his father to have kids right away because there were some deals pending. He refused to comply and, within the week, had managed to secure his leave from his father’s clutches, all he had to do was piss the old man enough to get written off, it was important that he did. The Kims wanted to back off from the deal their marriage had secured and mr Kim was delighted to know his son-in-law wanted to be free from his father. Bora, Chanyeol’s wife, was still an heir and had her own name among the restaurant business, so she could take good care of her husband and future children if needed.

Sangmin, then, was put up as the heir and his wife’s family wanted the business relationship. He agreed to remain in his position but didn’t think twice when his big brother came to him for help. Chorong was never considered for this game, and old man Park had already stepped down, so the girl was supposed to be safe. The main reason Sangmin wanted to help Jihyo be released from this deal was because, firstly, he can’t even imagine how hard it must be for the boy to be legally bound to someone he never met and for the benefit of people who don’t want him at all.

When Gyuri approached her brother about it, Sangmin knew it was time to help out with everything he had. The problem was with the Chois, the family Jihyo had been (not so) legally bound to, they didn’t feel like they got what they bargained for and were refusing to undo the contract. Truthfully, they didn’t, but it was in the contract that they would be getting the shorter end, and old man Park gave them exactly what was specified officially. Still, old man Choi was insistent that he wasn’t happy with the deal and the wedding was still happening. 

With that, Sangmin started a legal action, he had tried to make it friendly, but that took too long, and now the Chois lawyers were fighting tooth and nail to stop it. But Sangmin had already agreed to give up on the investment Park corp had made in the Chois, they just wanted to annul the marriage, and the judge was inclined to agree with the Parks. It took a while, the Chois had appealed to any and all resorts the law allowed them and the process dragged on for a couple of years because of that. But now a decision would be announced and this nonsense would be over.

Chanyeol got a call from a number he didn’t think he would ever see, and was told to head to an specific address, it was Gyuri’s house and he had never set foot in that place, nor did he think he ever would. The man was weary, so he shared his location with his wife and told Bora to send help if she didn’t hear from him in a couple of hours. It was a private neighborhood and he was followed by the security car from the moment he entered, maybe coming here was a mistake, but if it was for Jihyo, he would go anywhere.

Gyuri was waiting for him at the door, she looked well, a bright smile on her lips seeing her brother after so long. Chanyeol didn’t really know what to feel, he missed his siblings, but he was also the disowned son and his life went on a completely different path he had nothing in common with them anymore. Chanyeol, to his sister, looked completely different, he had become bulkier, visibly stronger and more alive, his clothes were obviously cheap (for the Park standard) but had more personality and fit him better than the old navy blue suits. Sangmin, who had been waiting in the house, had grown out of his childish looks, and the playboy style was really nowhere to be seen.

The siblings were awkward with each other, it had been long since they had seen their older brother and both were really happy Chanyeol agreed to meet them like this, despite it being about his son. They moved to the office for more privacy, Gyuri’s family was home and Chanyeol didn’t really know if he wanted to meet them, this was already too much for him and Jihyo was the more pressing matter at the moment. He was really trying to not say something that would come out as rude or ungrateful, however., both were helping him out more than he could have hoped for.

“Channie, it’s good to see you.” Sangmin decided to speak up.

“It's nice to see you too, both of you.” Chanyeol greets, still trying to sound as nice as he could.

“You don’t have to sound so uncomfortable, you know.” Gyuri tries to ease the tension. “We are still your siblings.”

“It’s- I-” The eldest sighs. “Look, this is really uncomfortable. We haven’t seen each other for years and I don’t really know how to feel about this meetup. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be eternally grateful for what you both did for Jihyo, freeing him from this madness, but -”

“You still don’t know what to do about us.” Sangmin cuts the rambling, they knew their older brother well, despite everything, and saw that he was very nervous from the moment he stepped out of his car. “It’s alright, honestly, I hoped this wouldn’t take so long and so many lawyers to undo, but I’m more than glad we could undo at least one wrong our old man did.”

“But Soyoung is also in a marriage deal, isn’t he? I kind of feel like I’m taking too much.”

“The Kims are on board with annulling the marriage.” Gyuri tries to soothe her brother. “Taeyeon could be a great wife, but she is too into being the typical rich girl and Sooyoung has suffered enough. Changsub said he would work with Kim to undo the deal and they almost got it already.”

“I’m taking Sooyoung doesn’t know about that yet.” 

“We decided to not make him worry about this. If we failed, we didn’t want to give him some false hope. And Taeyeon would spiral out of control if we told them, that could only bring more pain.” The woman lets out a bitter laugh.

“That’s fair, I see how bad it is for Jihyo to love someone and not be able to do anything about it. I can’t imagine how it is for my kid to decide to commit to someone who plays around and tells him about it.” Chanyeol decided to put his arm around his sister’s shoulders, she looked like she needed some comforting.

“I’d say I’m glad I’ve always been the wild one, then.” Sangmin tries to lighten up the mood. “Chorong came late and stayed out of daddy dearest dealings.”

“That she did. How is the kid, byt the way?” The eldest decides to show some interest. He loved his niece and nephew, no matter what was going on in the family.

“She’s great, she’s joining highschool next year, skipped a grade.” Sangmin is very proud of his daughter. 

“Glad to know she is a smart one.”

“Don’t talk like Jihyo isn’t a genius either. Why hasn’t he skipped any grades?” Gyuri tries to sound annoyed.

“He didn’t want to. We asked when he was offered, but he said he wanted to be with Wannie and never accepted.”

“Wannie?” The younger brother sounds confused.

“Son Seungwan, Jihyo’s best friend, brother from another mother, platonic soulmate. I usually stop listening after this one.” Chanyeol chuckles fondly. “They’ve been together since before birth, and I really see the Son kids as my own by now. They are good kids, and they have always been there for Hyo.”

“You sound very fatherly.” Sangmin points out. “It’s a bit disgusting.”

“I’ll take that as a complement. But now I should get going, I need to call Bora and ask her if she can be home tonight to tell Jihyo.”

“Channie, we would like to do this again.” Gyuri’s voice is small and hesitant, but she needed to ask.

“Maybe we could.” The eldest agrees. “But, I need some time to digest everything. It’s just- I just need to think a little.”

“Whenever you are ready. You have our numbers.” Sangmin hugs both his siblings with a joyful laugh.

Chanyeol says his goodbyes and leaves as discreetly as he could, Changsub was in the living room and both wave at each other with polite bows, but don’t talk. He sends his wife a simple text that reads:

_ Jihyo is free. Can you be home tonight? _

The woman answers fast that she’ll go home right away, and make some special dinner for them so her husband could deliver the good news. Jihyo would be over the moon just like the couple was already, and they could finally see their son be whoever he wanted to be with the person he loves. They knew how much not being able to properly date Dahyun was hurting both kids, and they were relieved to finally be able to let them express themselves freely.


	36. Chem finals and some trouble

The final for the national highschool chemistry competition is here, contrary to sports competitions, intellectual competitions were held weekly (sometimes multiple times during the week), they mostly didn’t require any preparation besides the students, well, studying the subject, and then showing up to the competition site. With that, all intellectual tournaments progressed much faster then sports tournaments and the kids would be ‘free’ of their intense club activities much earlier in the year.

Now, that absolutely does not apply to our favorite trio, these boys will be as competitive and invested all through the year, a trophy sitting in the club room or not, especially when not. Sunmi was glad they loved chemistry, but she really wanted them to not come to the club for a while after the competition period was over, you know, like any normal student would. But our favorite dumbasses aren’t about that life, and Sunmi was already suffering because she knew she would be stuck alone with the three for two or three meetings after these finals.

Today, however, felt a bit off. Nayeon was very quiet and was looking ashamed, maybe the fight and the talk Sunmi had with him after got the boy to settle down. Jihyo was chirpy, he never really looked gloomy or anything, but he was definitely happier. Jeongyeon was obviously mad at Nayeon, but he wasn’t saying anything, by the looks of it, and Jihyo’s energy was getting to him a little. All three were very focused on the competition ahead, however, and neither Sunmi or the other contestants were about to complain for the peace they were having.

It was a thursday morning, and the competition was being streamed live, for the parents who wanted to watch but couldn’t be there, meaning all parents, there were only college scouts and teachers at the venue, this should take all morning and it’s not as grand as a game final. It was alright, though, the kids were hyped and the ones competing were very focused on comparing notes and last-minute-reviewing as much as they can. Sunmi had a great feeling about this day.

The final round went as well as possible, they won, but didn’t taste as good. The other team was caught cheating and was disqualified halfway through, Sunmi’s kids were winning regardless, but it was just anticlimactic (?) to have their opponents out of the competition just like that. They just went back to school and got dismissed for the rest of the day, most kids went home, others went out, our trio hung out in the library until lunch so they could catch the afternoon classes. And that was when things lost their brakes going downhill. The boys had messaged the group chat with everyone, telling them they would be waiting in the cafeteria, very wrong move, but they didn’t know it yet.

On the way to lunch, Mina ran into Sana and just decided to drag his friend along to their table. Sana was the cheering squad’s baby and everyone knew that, and nobody (not a single teenage soul) would ever dare to defy the ladies, they knew how to pay people back with a vengeance. But Mina was one of the squad’s sweethearts, along with Jihyo, Seungwan and Dahyun, Mina had gained their favor because him and Sana were really close and the girls loved coming up with yaoi plots about them, Jihyo was the gentleman jock who was always completely respectful and came to the defense of all ladies, Seungwan and Dahyun often ended up helping the squad with their routines giving ideas and testing out moves with the girls.

Dahyun arrived at the table and was suspiciously chirpy as well, he came along with a tray with too much food, but the boys knew he had been trying to get Jihyo to put back some weight because the older one had been very weak lately, all the stress from the wrestling team and the fact he had to drop a lot of weight very fast took a toll on the boy and everyone was very worried. 

“Nayeonnie, can you get my phone from my back pocket, please?” The younger Bae asked as he prepared to take a seat.

“What do I get out of it?” Nayeon was still sulky about the competition.

“A chance to touch my butt?”

“You know you could have asked anyone else, right?” Jeongyeon chips in.

“Shut up!” The older boy shushes his friend hurriedly. “Let Nayeonnie get it for you.” His voice got too sweet.

“Thanks, Yeonnie.” Dahyun says and turns, he was busy setting the tray down and making sure it was more towards Jihyo than himself.

Nayeon humms in agreement but his attention doesn’t break from the relic he had just gained access to the grail, namely, Dahyun’s butt. Everyone knew the older had some sort of fascination for the younger Bae’s glutes, Jihyo and Mina found it amusing and had a few bets going on about it. Now, Im Nayeon is certainly not a man to turn down great opportunities when they present themselves, so we have him grabbing two handfuls of Bae Dahyun’s ass, the phone had quickly been disposed of on the table and Dahyun was deeply reflecting if cheering his friends up had been worth the trouble.

“How did he manage?” Mina asks as he arrives at the table and sees his boyfriend going at it.

“Dubs had his hands full and asked him to get his phone in the back pocket.” Jihyo answers with humor. “Oh, Sacchan, it’s great to have you with us.”

“Hey Ji.” Sana looks troubled. “Do I want to know what those two are doing? And why are you both looking thoroughly entertained?” The taller japanese questions, but takes a seat anyway.

“Quick version.” Jihyo decides to fill his friend in. “Nayeon preaches that Dahyun’s butt is the best butt that has ever been put in this earth, and he will take any opportunity to touch it. Dubs, in turn, is a very conservative young man, and gets incredibly shy when Yeonnie does these things in public, he is flattered don’t let him mislead you.”

“But Dubs is Hyo’s man.” Mina continues. “And he is set on being very faithful, although we both encourage Yeonnie to try and grab that ass, Dubs is really strong and he also knows how to fight properly, that bunny is the biggest softie and the worst fighter you’ll ever meet.”

“Dubs threw the absurd amount of zero punches and Yeonnie got scared and begged for mercy.” Jeongyeon had gotten enough footage and decided to join the conversation. “Since then, Yeonnie always tries to sneak some grabbing when he knows Dubs won’t hurt him too much.”

“Okay, can I feel said butt and make a judgement for myself, though?” Sana was intrigued, and this whole thing was just too ridiculous to let go.

“You most certainly can.” Dahyun agreed and hopped over to Jihyo’s other side where Sana was sat. “Anything to get away from those hands.”

Mina giggles and sits down on where Dahyun was, trying to get his boyfriend to not start talking and just sulk quietly. It worked. Jihyo laughs heartily as Sana’s face goes from confused to wonder then happiness in the time it takes for the pale boy to get to his side and his hands to reach the butt. Nayeon laughed loudly, knowing he had won this round, won what and from whom was a mystery. Tzuyu had arrived in the middle of it all and grasped the situation quite fast, but decided to entertain Jeongyeon, the only other person just watching the mess happen. What the group didn’t notice was the small pack of frustrated wrestlers lurking, well, at least that’s what said wrestlers thought.

In truth, Mina had heard two of them, who he shared the previous class with, talking about how ‘that Park bitch’ dropped the team and would pay for making them look like fools and almost getting late to the last competition. So he set out to grab Sana and have them tail Jihyo for the rest of the day, those idiots would pounce very soon, he had shot Jihyo a message as soon as his class was over and they agreed the three would stick together to prevent anything bad happening. Nobody really knows Mina and Sana are master fighters, and those who do, mostly don’t believe it, it’s not like they are intending to really fight, but one can’t be too careful about these teenage jocks who think they are big manly men and will be obeyed.

The group had their lunch and played around with each other, and had a pleasant meal overall, the entire group was aware of what was happening, but they just kept alert and didn’t really let it get to them. But lunch period would be over soon and Jihyo would be off to the other side of the school for P.E., and this might as well get resolved before then. With that in mind, the group gets out of the cafeteria, sure enough the angry wrestlers follow, and make their way to the most strategic point they could think of, a small garden just behind the teachers’ lounge, that could be clearly seen from the inside, but not many knew that, and these boys definitely didn’t. 

Making sure the lounge had, at least, a few teachers inside, they settle the closer to the window they could manage without making it obvious, although Jihyo did tell his friends those boys were too dumb to lok around when they thought they got an advantage. In truth, Sunmi had been talking with a few colleagues when she saw the boys settle down in the shade, when asked why she was smiling, she pointed to the group and told them it was nice seeing her boys not trying to kill each other. They all laughed and agreed, as the trouble trio had given headaches to most teachers at this point. A few minutes later, the greco-roman boys approached the group and started yelling.

Jackpot, they were so caught up on calling Jihyo names and trying to taunt him that they never noticed the teachers had opened the window and started watching them, mrs Choi, one of the teachers watching, had taken upon herself to write down their names, they would already be in a lot of trouble just for the verbal abuse, but Xu Minghao, the captain, wasn’t satisfied with just spitting insults, he stepped forward, followed by his goons, and grabbed Jihyo off the ground, and went for a big swing. Sana managed to grab the fist and made a show of trying to stop his friend from getting hurt. Some of the teachers dashed out and towards the group, mrs Choi had already finished taking names and screamed for the boys to halt.

What nobody needed to know was that Sana, Mina and Jihyo were very well capable of finishing off all of them without breaking sweat. With Minghao’s arm safely locked by Sana, he was the only one left behind when the other boys bolted, in the hopes of avoiding punishment. Jihyo and Sana, the ones directly involved in the imminent beating, along with the wrestling captain who was about to do the beating, were escorted to the principal’s office, Sunmi allowed mrs Choi and coach Kim to go with the boys, the other teachers went back to their tasks, lunch time was over and they had classes to teach.

And that was the day over half of the greco-roman wrestlers were suspended, their captain expelled and the team lost their place in the tournament and coach Zhen was ratted out as the instigator behind the harassment. Jihyo was immensely grateful for Sana helping out with making them seem scarred and shaken about the violent boys.


	37. The spring cleaning

Sure, most schools would get their students to clean their classrooms in summer, right before they are off for summer break and go ahead for the next grade, leaving everything nice and tidy for the students coming next. But this is not most schools and they opted for making them clean in the middle of spring because the students wanted to enjoy the pool and wouldn’t really focus on much else. The kids were teens and their hormones were raging, no point in asking them to really focus on things they didn’t want to focus on.

Here we have Jihyo, Seungwan and Joohyun watching their classmates wreck their classroom, how did things go so wrong? Let me tell you about how Sana and the theatre girls are a terrible combination when anything that could remotely resemble anything else was involved. Meaning, they would make impromptu plays with just about anything they found while cleaning the classroom. Right now they were doing some odd spinoff of snow white with the globe they found half broken in the locker (don’t ask), Sana was snow white and Minnie the wolf, everything had too many sexual innuendos to be appropriate.

The other kids were half participating in whatever play that would come up, and the other half trying to get things done at some point in the day. Jihyo had just resigned to do as much as he could and was now plotting with the couple to convince the half who was trying to get things done to just do what they could and leave the rest to the ones putting on the plays. They had gathered some following already and everyone knew once Minnie got invested in something she would see it through to the end.

“Okay, how about we clean the board, our desks and the teacher’s desk and head out for lunch?” Jihyo suggests to the students who were trying to actually do what they were supposed to be doing.

“That sounds like a good plan.” Park Sejeong, one of Nayeon’s teammates and a very funny guy agreed.

“How about them?” Another classmate points out.

“Just leave them be, they can clean the floor and put the tables back in place once they are done.” Joohyun decides.

“Alright, let’s get this done and get something to eat.” Jihyo says as he claps his hands. “I’m hungry and I’m not about to waste lunch time watching Sana and Minnie flirt.”

“That, we can all agree with.” One of the few girls not involved in the impromptu play says. “We see enough of them on the daily.”

They laugh at that and get to their share of the work. The performers only really had to dispose of their props, clean the floor and put all the furniture back in their proper place. Jihyo, Seungwan and Joohyun head for lunch and run into Mina, Dahyun and Jeongyeon, the three having just finished with their own classroom as well. The ones a year younger, namely Chaeyoung, Tzuyu and Yeri, were already halfway through their lunch once the group arrived in the cafeteria. On days like today, the group just ate with whomever was available, knowing it would get their schedules all jumbled and they would just take whatever grouping they could get.

“Hey grandpas!” Yeri greets when the older group approaches.

“You do realize we are only one year apart, right?” Mina muses.

“Your point?” The little beagle insists.

“You do know I’m the same age as you and just skipped a grade, right?” Dahyun questions once he settles down.

“I still don’t know where you both are getting at.”

“Can we please just eat?” Jihyo decides to end this suffering. “We all know it’s useless to try and reason with Yeri.”

“Thank you, Hyo.” Said boy beams. “I see you are a man of wisdom.”

Jihyo doesn’t really say anything else, he was too hungry to have his lunch in front of him and not eat it. Dahyun had also started eating, while Jeongyeon and Tzuyu had been invested in whatever their conversation was about. Joohyun and Seungwan passed by their table and waved at the ones already there, but headed outside for some sunlight and some alone time, they would do that most times. Mina said he messaged Nayeon that they had already headed out for lunch, but the older boy said something about class war and nobody really wanted to bother.

“Are we all ready for pool season?” Chaeyoung asks, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Oh, you aren’t remotely ready for Jihyo by the pool, I promise you that.” Mina, surprisingly, taunts.

“Just because I decided to grow my beard, doesn’t mean much has changed.” The former wrestler ponders.

“Oh, we are not talking about that.” Dahyun adds. “It is a very welcome addition, but not what we are referring to right now.”

“Dubs is right.” The penguin perks up. “I mean, most of the girls are going to have trouble handling you in a bathing suit, most guys are going to be very insecure as well.”

“Can anyone explain to me how a school issued swimming suit is going to get me to do all that?” Jihyo, you lovely innocent and self-clueless hunk.

“You are very lucky you are cute.” Dahyun decides to say, instead, and just focus on eating his lunch.

Jihyo is still very confused, it’s not like a simple swimming class would be a big deal, then again, last year at the pool opening day Jihyo had been cutting for the final matches and couldn’t really participate. Maybe he would understand why his wrestling matches had always been full and the cheer squad always showed up, greco-roman wasn’t one of the sports the girls would really make an effort to show up at all, but anytime they had a home match the girls were there. Jihyo had always just been grateful for the support, and made sure to bring the squad some home-made treats the next day.

Now, sure, Jihyo’s class was a bit of a pain with so many theatre kids, but the biggest pain in all teachers’ lives was Nayeon’s class, and the boy was surprisingly not among those who raised trouble. Sure, Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo were a nightmare when they had to work together, but that was just during the period they were forced to put their brains to work on the same project, immediately after they were done was like nothing had happened and the three were back to loving each other. No, class E (the teachers had to put at least another class between the trio, so Jihyo was class A, Jeongyeon class C and Nayeon class E) had most of the greco-roman boys and some of the cheerleaders.

Once the word was out that Jihyo had quit the team, the cheer squad had openly withdrawn their support for the team, which the other boys didn’t take so kindly. Coach Zhen’s boys believed they were the men among men and were certain the cheerleaders had been hyping up their matches because of them, poor, poor empty boys, their vanity would be laughable if not so pitiful. What happened was that the students had been doing a good job cleaning up, they were the first ones to finish, and their homeroom teacher had even been called over to check on their progress so they could be dismissed and all.

The trouble began when the class president went off to call their teacher, the Zhen boys approached Shuhua, asking why they weren’t present in the last two matches, which brought the entire cheer squad to rally behind their captain, followed by the basketball boys who followed when Nayeon stepped up, then the football players who followed Sooyoung and Seulgi. Some other frustrated guys joined the wrestlers, mostly because they had been turned down by one of the cheerleaders, or any of the girls in their class, really, there was not a single girl who didn’t step up for the squad in this. The greco-roman kids had about twelve guys on their side (between themselves and those who joined them), opposed to all the girls, seven football players and five basketball players.

“Alright, what is happening here?” Their homeroom teacher asked as soon as she stepped into the class.

At that exact moment, Nayeon, Sooyoung and Seulgi were being grabbed by their shirts, courtesy of the Zhen kids, and about to be punched. Mrs Choi was, thankfully, a very reasonable woman, and she witnessed the greco-roman club fiasco a while back as well, she was expecting the problem to be with the team again. Seunghee, as many other girls, was filming everything from the moment the boys yelled for Shuhua, she caught absolutely everything from the intimidation, to the basketball and football boys stepping between the girls and the other guys, to the three still being held asking them to stop and walk away to the almost fight.

Mrs Choi dismissed the class because they were done for the day, but told the boys causing havoc, the three who were threatened, Shuhua who was the one directly involved and Seunghee who provided the video evidence. The other girls gathered their things and headed out, the other players stayed until they had all left to make sure the boys who remained behind wouldn’t try anything. Once out of class, the cheer squad called for an emergency meeting, despite most being in the same class, some were still missing, and spread a few videos of the Zhen boys being pitiful and demanding they date them because…… Yeah, there was really no reason for their demands.

That was the last straw, the principal decided the greco-roman team would be dissolved and the kids would have to wait for the next year to apply to any other sports assembly if they wanted to play anything, just like anyone else. Coach Zhen was already under investigation, and got suspended once he barged into the office demanding that the principal went back on his decision. The boys were obviously sent to detention for the trouble, Shuhua, along with Nayeon, Sooyoung and Seulgi were given a rest day and told to go to the nurse’s office to get checked before heading home.


	38. Uniform change

Spring, the season of flowers! Also the time of year the students change into their lighter uniforms, it was getting warmer and the time for lighter clothing came, and so teenagers all over the country were either letting their hormones control their thoughts, or fought it and failed miserably. Great time to be a teacher, indeed, patrolling school halls, checking any place one could be hiding at, separating young couples and telling them off, witnessing your students do things some don’t even do themselves. Good times. Our lovely boys aren’t exempt from this heat induced trend as well.

Nayeon jumped Mina as soon as the younger boy opened the door, unsuspecting, like any other morning they decided to walk to school together. Our penguin just wanted to have anicemornign walk to school with his boyfriend, and now he is being groped at the entrance of his house. Good thing mr and mrs Myoui had left early that morning, otherwise he would have had a pretty hard time once he got back home that evening. It’s not Nayeon’s fault, really, he just forgets Mina looks that good with their summer uniform, and his heart was completely unprepared for the view that greeted him that morning, not that Mina is complaining, like at all.

Yeri had showed up rather disheveled to school that morning, the dumb grin on Seulgi’s lips explained everything and nobody bothered to ask at all, nobody wanted to know anyway. Seungwan and Joohyun were already a very intimate couple, and used to seeing each other in underwear, the bit of trouble they had that morning was from a few girls approaching them once they reached school, nothing too out of the ordinary either, being the star quarterback meant Joohyun would be surrounded pretty often, both knew very well how to handle the attention by now.

Sooyoung, our lovely, stand up guy, who was still not free from his hell bride, was also surrounded by a couple of fans when he arrived, but everyone knew how complicated his life was with his fiance and all, so he just got complimented and left alone, our boy was thankful his schoolmates were understanding. Sana, the favorite japanese hippie who happened to also have a rather sculpted body (nobody knew he was a martial arts master) was the cheerleaders and theatre girls’ protegée, the girls took him under their wings and he took good care of them as well, the fact that Sana showed zero interest in getting with them had some frustrated, but the girls were thankful.

Jeongyeon and Tzuyu were the old couple, they really didn’t see the fuss about the uniform change and were just thankful that they could stop feeling too hot by lunch, their admirers appreciated the sight, but nobody really moved to tell them anything. Chaeyoung, who had walked to school with the couple, got some appreciative nods, but that was about it, he was an average guy after all, our cub had reached a bit of a stillness on his development and looked too much of a pre-teen for highschool kids to find him too interesting. It was alright, his parents had taken him to the doctor when they noticed and, after all tests possible, were told he would be just fine, he just would develop a bit later than his older brother. 

Seungwan tried being supportive, but the fact that he was already going through his adolescence changes and Chae wasn’t showing any signs of his was a bit hard for the younger Son. That was an insecurity that only his family really knew about, and they all tried to cheer the young one up whenever he was down about it. Last, but never least, we have Jihyo and Dahyun, they were famous because of the school-wide bet on whether Jihyo and Seungwan were a couple or not, very few souls were doubtful because of the younger Bae, who was often seen with Jihyo and looked more like his boyfriend than the older Son. Not that it mattered much, both were fine with it.

What did bring a lot of attention to the little duo was that both were known gym rats, who contrasted so beautifully and fit so well with each other, Dahyun had his (family issued) fair skin with the jet black hair contrasting beautifully, and Jihyo with the sun kissed skin and light brown hair that match with one another, both boys together were just right, ever since Jihyo started growing his beard, Dahyun decided to grow his too, for some twist of destiny, both were blessed with the ability to grow full beards and were sporting very uncomfortable stubbles at the moment. Most guys were envious, most girls were interested.

Now, the summer uniforms parade would never be completed without the cheerleaders strutting around school like they owned the place (if you asked the right people, they’d tell you they did) and turn their noses on anyone among those they didn’t want who was brave enough to approach them and try their luck. It was almost a school tradition, they would gather at the gate and parade around with the full squad, just for the sake of it, and since they were never late for their classes nor did the girls ever initiate any sort of trouble, the teachers couldn’t really say anything against it.

“So, you girls really have to do this every year?” Jihyo asked good humoredly. 

“You know, mr Park, if you agreed to our invitations, you could do it with us.” Elkie answered suggestively.

Jihyo and Dahyun had been sitting on the bleachers near the cheer practice after school. The pale boy had some sort of inspiration and wanted to work under the late afternoon sun. The cheerleaders had just finished practice and were hanging around before heading to the showers, and they enjoyed the view, shut up. Elkie had decided to take a seat beside the former wrestler and, maybe, strike up some conversation. These two were always pleasant and interesting companies.

“If I did, Dubs would have dissipated your squad by now.” The owlish boy jabs.

“Do not include me in your escapades.” Dahyun protests, never really stopping his work. “You man up and tell them you are just afraid of girls because of that one time Jeong’s sister was having pms and you asked her where the bathroom wasa while standing right in front of it.”

Elkie and Shuhua, who had just joined them, burst out laughing.

“First off, stop exposing me. And that was years ago!” Jihyo whines. “It was my first time in that house and we all know how awful Jeong is with directions.”

“Oh, our poor baby Hyo met a mean noona.” Shuhua coos, they had gathered some audience among the girls because of the loud laughter. “Come here, let this nice noona help you.”

The cheer captain cradles his head against her chest and Jihyo couldn’t be more embarrassed. Dahyun even stopped what he was doing to snap a few pictures and send them to their group chat, which had Nayeon and Tzuyu freak out immediately. Elkie, that bastard, was crying out of laughter and the girls around varied between giggles and barking laughter. It was a nice afternoon, even if sacrificing Jihyo was the thing that entertained them.

“Hee, I think you should let him go.” Seungyeon suggested. “Hyo is about to reach his limit.”

“Fine, but just because I haven’t laughed like this in a while.” Seunghee agrees and lets go.

“Thank you, Seungyeon.” Jihyo is very grateful indeed.

“No problem, just take me out sometime.” The girl dismisses as she walks to the locker room.

The other girls gather their things and follow, leaving Jihyo feeling used and cheated. Dahyun was having the time of his life, his painting forgotten but already very far along regardless. 

“Did Seungyeon just cheat me into taking her out on a date?” 

“She did, Hyo. And you better do it soon, Sujinnie will look like a bumbling cub if you get on the wrong side of these girls.”

“Oh, don’t I know that.” Jihyo huffs defeated. “And you are my boyfriend, shouldn’t you be a bit more worried about me going on dates with other people?”

“I do enjoy my life, thank you.” Dahyun laughs. “I don’t want to be on the wrong side of the cheer squad either. And we started dating not long ago, not even our friends know about it yet. Hell, our families don’t know about it yet.”

“Don’t even. You are having as much fun as I am keeping them frustrated.”

“I’m not denying anything.”

The boys laugh and get up to gather Dahyun’s stuff, they would have to return everything to the art club room before going home, and both knew the artist wasn’t about to do anything else anyway. The episode had put both in a great mood and Jihyo very much wanted to take Dahyun on a date on the park before taking him home now. They get back and clean everything before grabbing their bags and heading to their favorite dog park, hoping Tzuyu wasn’t there today and they would be able to kiss each other during their date.


	39. Minnie should really review her sources

Okay, so there had been two options for this and Seungyeon was definitely not one of them. Minnie prided herself in knowing everything that happened within the school walls, so when was it that Seungyeon and Jihyo ever got together and why had this information never reached her? And how was it that neither Dahyun nor Seungwan was doing anything about this? Were they seeing the two of them talking so closely and so friendly? Minnie was convinced Jihyo was very gay and now this?

Well, as they met the day before, and this was wednesday, meaning they only had half an afternoon of classes, Jihyo thought to take the girl out already. Dahyun was all for it, they didn’t do jealous and it wasn’t like Jihyo had any romantic interest in the girl, if their long period of not dating taught them both anything, was to trust each other and learn to be their own person whilst never hurting one another with it. It might sound like something a couple of teenagers shouldn’t learn until much later in life, but they had spent so long loving one another without being able to act on it, that both did all the growing up during the wait.

It was lunch time, and Jihyo went to the cheerleaders’ table to ask the girl if she wanted to go out after classes, he knew there was no cheer practice today as well. Shuhua had caught Minnie observing from the corner of her eye, and was honestly entertained, they had no bad blood between them at all, had even had a fling in the beginning of sophomore year, only to find out neither really liked each other like that after an attempted make out session. It was weird, don’t bring it up with them. But the captain knew how much the theatre president loved keeping tabs on everyone’s lives, and seeing her not know something was a treat.

“Good afternoon, ladies. May I ask Seungyeon-ssi to talk to me for a while?” Jihyo greeted.

“Is something wrong?” Shuhua questions.

“Not at all, I just promised her a date and I’m wondering if she is available after classes today.” Jihyo was always extremely polite when talking to women.

“Ji, you know you don’t have to be so formal, right?” Seungyeon chuckles.

“I know.” He answered simply and the girls giggled.

“I’ll let you off because you are too cute and now we have dirt on you.” Elkie laughs and pinches the boy’s cheek.

“I appreciate it if Minnie never really finds out about it, though.” He whispers and the girls agree.

“Girls, stop teasing him.” Seungyeon tries to sound serious, but the girls agree it was enough teasing.

“Thank you.” Jihyo is honestly relieved. “So, I’ll pick you up at your classroom after the last class?”

“I’ll be waiting.” Seungyeon agrees and gives him a quick peck on the cheek.

Jihyo gets a very interesting shade of red on his face and neck, but he bids the girls goodbye and returns to his table, Dahyun was heaving after a laughing fit caused by the whole scene, Nayeon and Jeongyeon were making kissy faces, Tzuyu was coming back with some water for the younger Bae and Mina was giggling like a maniac. Lucky the others decided to eat outside today, or Jihyo would never hear the end of it from Seungwan and Joohyun. Now, it’s not like These ones here would leave him alone anytime soon, but they wouldn’t mind it tomorrow, whilst the others would bring it up for the rest of theirs lives, Seungwan might be toasting at Jihyo’s wedding and he’d be like “remember that time Hyo took a cheerleader on a date? Yeah, our boy did that.”.

Now, the rest of classes was fairly interesting, Minnie was visibly bothered and too prideful to come out and ask how come there was something happening she didn’t know about. She was also visibly irritated, snapping at meaningless things and huffing all the time. Jihyo really did his best to not laugh, but it was hard. Good thing Seungwan was talking about how Joohyun had made lunch for them and gushing over how cute it was, and then saying, very secretively, that the food was kind of bland, but demanding that his best friends stayed quiet about it because he appreciated the effort. Jihyo honestly didn’t care.

Everything was all that much funnier once class was dismissed, Minnie had decided to observe herself and set out to tail the boy who had been bothering her all day. She recruited the help of Soojin and Miyeon, read she dragged both with her whether they wanted to go or not, and set out on her chase. They followed Jihyo to Seungyeon’s classroom and saw the cheerleaders teasing him, then Shuhua greeted him with a tight hug (when did they become close?) and Seungyeon came out to jump on the boy and give him a kiss on the cheek.

They followed the two to a new ice cream place that had opened near their houses, Jihyo and Seungyeon lived in the same neighborhood, not close at all, almost on opposite ends, but the same neighborhood regardless. This shop had opened a few weeks before, and it was somewhat halfway between their houses, though Jihyo’s was a bit further away. The girls following entered a bit behind the two, Jihyo had guided Seungyeon to a table and went to get their orders, honestly, the three girls following them swooned a little, only to come back with their ice creams, two waters and coffees, they had to be dating, right?

The rest of the afternoon consisted on Minnie grinding her teeth because she desperately wanted to know what was being said on the other table, and Jihyo and Seungyeon learning they have a lot in common and the boy promising he would get her Han Jisung’s number, one of the two nice guys on the former wrestling team who also dropped out once they learned Jihyo wasn’t part of it anymore. The other was Kim Seungmin, who Seunghee had her eye on for some time, to which Jihyo argued Seungyeon could set them up after Jisung and herself got together.

Once they were done, Jihyo insisted on walking the girl home, Seungyeon had mentioned she felt a bit stuffed, they had ordered a piece of cake after the ice cream, and wanted to walk it off a little. Minnie, at that point, was visibly frustrated, her companions had given up and decided to just go with it. They walked around for a while before they saw the ‘couple’ stopping in front of an apartment building, hugging and Jihyo getting a kiss on the cheek, both very smiley. One could see why they might be mistaken as a new couple, and that’s what our gossip trio did.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were dating Seungyeon?” Dahyun asked when Jihyo got back.

The younger Bae had been waiting so they could work on some essays together, it wasn’t anything urgent, but they enjoyed doing things in advance. Jihyo was told by papa Park Dahyun was upstairs waiting and had already made a mess of papers in the measly twenty minutes he had been there.

“I’m what now?” The big eyed boy was honestly confused.

“Minnie just posted a picture of both of you walking together with the caption ‘New couple?’ about ten minutes ago.”

“Oh, well, sorry to tell you love. But I’m having an affair.”

Both boys laugh at that, Jihyo kisses his boyfriend dearly, before dismissing himself to a quick shower. It is indeed quick, but Dahyun had the amazing ability to spread out whenever he was left unsupervised, and Jihyo came back to three times the mess of paper he had left the other boy with. 

“You are so lucky you are handsome.” Jihyo says from the door.

“Well, I must agree with that statement.” Dahyun jokes.

Jihyo crosses the room, already too used to navigating Dahyun’s mess, only to kiss the other boy very passionately. They fall into easy conversation while they get to work, and the younger boy laughs when he learns Seungyeon was interested in Jisung. Both agree to not say anything, and Jihyo shoots the girl a message asking her to not say anything either, he explained he wanted to let Minnie be led on and she agreed instantly. 

The next day, Jihyo gets to school earlier to talk to his former teammate, Jisung had switched to the basketball team and needed to work on a few pointers to actually be allowed to play, so he had been getting morning training from the coach to catch up. Nothing much, just working on his breathing and improving his stamina while running. The boy is confused when Jihyo tells him Seungyeon asked for his number, questioning about Minnie’s post the previous day. And is delighted to know the girl had asked Jihyo to set them up during that exact ‘date’. Jisung agrees to also not confirm nor deny anything about the post, and Jihyo is on his way.

Seungyeon’s reaction the the number she had received during lunch confirmed the rumors, she was so happy Jisung had agreed to it that she hugged and planted a noisy kiss on Jihyo’s cheeks, the matchmaker wasn’t fairing very well, as he got unhealthily red as everything was happening. Dahyun, who knew about everything, had been filming it all happen, for science, obviously. The other boys also knew there was no chance of something happening there, were highly entertained by everything.

Two days later, Seungyeon and Jisung were walking around clinging to each other, Minnie didn’t resist and approached Jihyo to ask, Dahyun made sure to snap a photo of the girl once she was told that no, Seungyeon was not cheating because herself and Jihyo were never really together.


	40. Jeongyeon has had it!

So, it’s been a few weeks since Jihyo has left the greco-roman team and decided to let his beard grow free. To add to the situation, the Hyun brothers decided to join and so did Sooyoung and Seungwan. Now, Seungwan wasn’t much of a problem, Jeongyeon understood the boy, but the smaller one also didn’t care much for it regardless. Adding insult to injury, Nayeon and Mina joined the movement and now Jeongyeon has had it with all of them. He was sulking in his room all morning, Seungyeon just laughed at her brother, Sujin had to be stopped from mocking their younger sibling, she could get relentless when she wanted to.

Tzuyu was at the shelter with Jihyo all morning, and both decided to drop by the Yoos together, it had been a while since Jihyo was there, and Tzuyu conveyed Sujin’s message that the women missed him. And that was what brought us to everyone gathering at the Yoo residence for a good laugh, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Once Jihyo did arrive, Seungyeon and Sujin were thrilled, which Tzuyu loved because that left him alone to play with the dogs, without having to entertain the women. Mama and Papa Yoo were off working, it was just the kids this time.

“Sujin, get over here fast!” Seungyeon screamed for her sister as soon as she opened the front door.

“What?” Sujin groaned, not very willing to leave the couch. “It’s just Tzutzu, we see him everyday.”

“Sujinnie, get your ass up and come here. Hyo came to visit.”

With that, they hear something clatter, a squeak, feet thumping and a very disheveled Sujin pops her head on the hallway, a cheshire smile spreading on her lips once her eyes land on Jihyo. Our jigglypuff lovechild, then, remembers the reason he had been avoiding meeting the Yoo sisters, these women never failed to make sure they thoroughly abused his cheeks and exhausted their compliments repertoire, which made him a lot flustered. Despite being in the public eye for most of his life and getting famous for his skill as a wrestler, Jihyo has never grown accustomed to receiving compliments from those close to him, sure, many people praised his skill, but when it came from people close to him, he was utterly useless.

“Sujinnie, stop before Hyo faints.” Seungyeon laughed, and this was as far as she was going to try and help.

“That was one time!” Jihyo whines.

“Please let him live, we still need him alive to get Jeongyeonnie out of that room.” Tzuyu asks halfheartedly from where he was playing with the dogs.

“Oh yeah.” Jihyo seems to remember why he was there. “What’s up with him. Tzu said he has been sulking in his room lately.”

“Well, we don’t really care, to be very honest.” Sujin answers truthfully. “But Tzu gets sad when he is like this and we care for Tzutzu.”

“Thanks.” Tzuyu, still not looking away from the dogs, quips.

“Alright, I’ll go up there, then.” The shorter boy decides.

“He might want to throw you out of the room as he throws a fit, though.” Seungyeon ponders.

“You forget I’m a wrestler.” Jihyo laughs. “I’ll let it slide because you are all worried about Jeong.”

The women are about to protest when they see the look on Jihyo’s face, it tells them he will get mad if they keep talking and that he did get upset about them forgetting the skills he worked so hard to build. Jihyo isn’t a violent boy whatsoever, but he does take pride in what he worked so hard through the years to achieve, and saying things like ‘you might be thrown out’ not only makes him feel like his skill is nothing, but also puts in doubt his relationship with one of his best and oldest friends. Sure, Seungwan is his bestest friend among all, but they have been together since the womb and are mostly brothers at this point. Nayeon and Jeongyeon are also Jihyo’s best friends, they just came around a little later.

Getting to the room itself, Jihyo could already tell Jeongyeon was spending too much time in there, sports competitions have entered their summer break, they lasted all year long and this break was to make sure the kids wouldn’t exhaust themselves with everything they were expected to do, between studies, extracurriculars and sports. Jihyo didn’t have to worry about sports for now, but he was definitely about to ask Sana and Mina to train him. The room was emanating a dirty feeling, our baby owl could already smell the stale air filled with sweaty teen boy, and he was really reconsidering entering the place. But Sujin was right, they didn’t care that Jeongyeon was being sulky, they did care that he was making Tzuyu sad and that was not going to remain as it was.

“Yoo Jeongyeon, you have thirty seconds to open this door, or I will kick it in.” Jihyo declares from the hallway.

No answer, so he tries to open it, only to find it unlocked. So much for kicking it in, but he didn’t really want to make a mess, Tzu would be sadder if the room was ruined. The thing about everyone not wishing for the younger boy to be sad was because they all knew he was the nicest and most caring kid ever, his stoic looks may project a heartless and impersonal aura, but he was just so sensitive and caring not even Yeri had been able to prank him and not apologise profusely right after. Jeongyeon was sitting by the window looking at nothing, the curtains were drawn, only a small sliver of light getting in.

The room looked, smelled and felt dirty, the hairs on the back of Jihyo’s neck were already standing and he had a cold feeling twisting at the base of his spine, telling him to not go in further. But this is what best friends are for and he was going to get Jeongyeon to snap out of it right there and then. Nayeon would have just got in, guns blazing, and made a scene, effective, but not Jihyo’s style at all. Now, he slapped the light switch and Jeongyeon flinched, a reaction is good news.

“You know, I’m gonna say this once and you are gonna listen. You are going to get your shit together, clean this room and air it out because it stinks and then shower.” Jihyo said it slow and coldly, the exact voice nobody ever wants to be at the receiving end of. “Then you are coming downstairs and apologising to Tzu because you have been neglecting him, even though he comes all the way over here. Then you are going to apologise to your family for being a brat. Finally you are going to be every dream Tzu has ever had about his boyfriend because you have neglected him long enough.”

Jeongyeon merely gulps, Jihyo is their little angel, he is the most patient after Seulgi, and the loveliest little ball of sunshine, to have him be this cold and unforgiving, one has to have messed up really bad, which Jeong has, but was hoping that things never got to this. The reason? He was feeling less of a man because Jihyo and Dahyun decided to grow their beards and all he had were sideburns that took forever to grow at all. It might be silly when mentioned like that, but Jeongyeon’s grandpa always told him manly men were big, strong and hairy.

It might be something one grows out of, but grandpa Gong (mrs Yoo’s father) was Jeongyeon’s hero, grandpa Yoo had passed when he was too little to remember, so he was left with only one grandfather growing up. The old man never really had a beard himself, but he had hairy arms that always felt safe to little Jeongyeon, once he did become a teenager, able to grow facial hair, the boy was disappointed to learn he couldn’t be the manly man his grandpa always talked about. And having Jihyo and Dahyun who were younger grow full beards was a blow he was not ready to take.

“I’ll go downstairs, come once you are finished here and make sure you spend the rest of this weekend treating Tzuyu like the prince he is, and we won’t have any problems. Keep doing this, and I’ll come back with Nayeonnie so we can have another conversation.”

Jihyo, then, leaves the room to go back downstairs and spend some time with Tzuyu and the Yoo sisters, it’s been a while. The threat he just made might seem useless for those who didn’t know himself or Nayeon that well, the older boy was known to be a happy fool most times, and only those really close to him had gotten to see the fear inducing serious Nayeon. Mina might be the one in command, but even he feared his boyfriend once the serious side came up, nobody ever wanted to be on the wrong side of Nayeon nor Jihyo, most definitely not both of them at once. Not that Jeongyeon wasn’t as frightening as them when needed, but right now he was the problem, and nobody was putting up with him anymore.

Jeongyeon does as he was told, he knew he was doing wrong by Tzuyu and his family, if swallowing his feelings was what he’d have to do, he’d do it. There would be more opportunities for him to wallow in his sadness and disappointment, right now he would have to push it down and get moving because Jihyo was right and he hated having his best friends mad at him. The wrestler knew the reasons behind his friend’s attitude, but Jeongyeon had to see the things his grandfather told him came from someone who lived in a world that doesn’t exist anymore, from a man who lived in a completely different context and it shouldn’t be taken to heart like Jeongyeon was doing, even if it came from his grandfather.

__________________________________________________________________

I was reading the other day, and it’s been a while since an honestly good fic came up. I’d like to suggest it:

[ https://archiveofourown.org/works/22752835 ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22752835)


	41. Yerm gets in trouble….. Again

Now, leave it to Yerim to screw up, at this point nobody is even phased anymore. Seulgi, bless this man, was just sitting patiently as he waited for his boyfriend to stop screaming and talk to him to try and find a solution for whatever problem the boy was having inside the bathroom stall. They had hit the bathroom once lunch began to avoid crowds, both brought their lunch from home, and there was no reason for them to rush to the cafeteria, or wherever they would have lunch, once inside, Yeri started screaming and hasn’t calmed down yet, it’s been a few minutes.

Seulgi, this beautiful bear, had finished his business, washed his hands and tried to get Yeri out of the stall and tell him what was happening. Inside the stall, a lot of pain and a lot of fear were happening for the younger boy, you see, Yeri should really start being more careful and think more before he does something, this should be a good lesson, once he is able to think again, that is. You might be wondering what’s going on, and I’ll let you know, I just want you to understand that this is Yeri’s own fault and his recklessness is what put him there. 

Well, Kim Yerim enjoyed freedom, he has always used boxers, and whenever he tried anything tighter it felt like being imprisoned in his own body. The problem right now is, he had to put on one of the silk ones he wears to sleep as his mother made a mistake the previous day and knocked down the ones he had washed (our boys are taught to be fully functional adults), reducing him to the ones he wears as pajamas. The problem here is, the silk ones are too soft and very hard to feel, against his skin, that means there was a small error when zipping up his pants and now there is a lot of pain happening and he is too afraid to even look to figure out what happened and how to get out of it.

“Rimmie, can you open for me, please?” Seulgi tries, once the screaming lowers a little. “I just want to help you out, please open the door.”

Yerim does unlock the stall, but can’t really move, as even breathing is taking a lot out of him at the moment. 

“What’s wrong?”

The younger boy just points down, Seulgi flinches and gulps as soon as he sees it.7

“Okay, can you move at all?” Seulgi gets a barely there head shake. “Okay, do you think you can take it if I carry you to the nurse?”

Barely a nod tells Seulgi his boyfriend is willing to try, well, they can’t really stay like this much longer, the older boy had seen some blood and got extremely worried, and Yeri sure isn’t intending for this to be his life now. Our bear goes and gets their lunchboxes and hands them for Yeri to hold, then, as carefully as he could given the circumstances, some whimpering grunting from the younger one and they are off to get some help.

“Put him on the bed.” Is all nurse Kim says once they reach the clinic.

“Can you help him?” Seulgi is starting to despair at this point, the walk to the clinic was taxing.

“I’ll take a look and see what I can do, alright?”

“Thank you, nurse Kim.”

“Don’t thank me yet. But sit over there and have your lunch. Looks like you were about to eat, yes?”

“We went to the bathroom before eating and then this happened.”

“Well, then eat. It’s not good for growing boys to skip meals.”

“I’ll try.” Seulgi agrees and moves to sit on the couch.

With her way clear, nurse Kim moved to check the boy curled up on the bed, all she could understand was that something was wrong around his lower abdomen and looked bad enough for Seulgi to panic. The main reason she told the boy to go eat his lunch was because he was completely pale, eyes wide and looking about to pass out. Having him concentrate on his lunch would not only distract him while she does her job, but would force him to calm down as he tries to eat and not choke on his food. Years as a school nurse taught Kim Hyojin that not everything is really an emergency with teenagers, and aggravating situations could be avoided if you simply distract them.

“Mr Kim, I’m going to need you to tell me what’s wrong.”

“Zipper.” Is all Yerim manages to grumble out, he still can’t breathe well.

“Alright, can you show me?” nurse Kim asks softly.

Yerim tries his best, but straightening his legs is proving to be a challenge at the moment, he does manage to uncurl long enough for the nurse to see what was happening. Nurse Kim winces, it looked worse than she thought it would be, but first things first, allowing the boy to move a bit and releasing some of the pain. She grabs her scissors and cuts around the area, the boy seems to be relieved immediately, the nurse goes to the mini fridge and grabs a cold compress, enveloping it in some gause and heading back to the suffering kid.

“This is going to sting a little.” Nurse Kim warns. “But bear with it, you’ll feel better soon.”

Yeri squirms and whines a little but settles soon after, Seulgi is still eating his lunch, but the woman figured he would take a while anyway. Nurse Kim tells the boys she will step out for a while to get Yeri’s file so she could call his family to take him to the hospital and register the incident, as he would have to be excused from classes and would have problems if his absence wasn’t made oficial. She was a good nurse, never failed to keep calm and do as much as she could to help the students, regardless of the situation. The students loved her, even with all the headaches they gave the woman.

Soon enough, mr Kim came to pick up his son, carrying the clothes the nurse told him to bring, and was off to the hospital with the two boys. Nurse Kim decided Seulgi wasn’t well enough to attend classes either, he did calm down and managed half his lunch but was still very agitated and losing focus on anything that wasn’t the boy laying on the bed. The man winces and hisses when he sees it, but he focuses and listens to the nurse’s instructions, she had sent Seulgi to grab their things and give their teachers a note explaining their absence. The boy returns not long after and they head to the hospital.

By now, their group chat is blowing up, Seulgi has this one classmate who prides himself on knowing everything about everyone, something like Minnie. But Nayeon does confirm rumors before speaking about them, unlike the girl, and he did see Seulgi coming in, handing their teacher a note and grabbing his things before leaving, so our main bunny is invested in finding out what’s happening. It will get worse when classes are over and Chaeyoung mentions Seulgi had come for Yeri’s things as well. But that’s a worry for another time.


	42. Some people just don’t know when to give up

So, today was the day for the greco-roman finals. Our baby owl isn’t competing, but he did want to go and support a couple of friends he had made through his time competing. Jihyo was very sociable and the fact that he is unbelievably shy despite having no problems suplexing a bich when he had to, it was amusing and brought the boy a lot of connections in the field. He had friends on both teams, luckily nobody shared categories with the others, so he could cheer without feeling guilty towards any of them.

Today, despite being moring, we have Jihyo and Dahyun in casual suits (those that don’t really match but kind of do), being taken to Bangi-Dong by mr Bae for the national finals, this was the event where olympic scouts would approach the competidors, this was where Jihyo himself had been invited to the olympic team back in middle school as well. There would be competitions happening throughout the day, greco-roman was scheduled to be in the morning, and the (barely) taller boy wanted to watch, he did enjoy it.

Dahyun went along for the ride, and the chance to dress up, and to see his boyfriend dressed up (they still haven’t told anyone), Jihyo having promised a lunch date and to spend the rest of this saturday together was the cherry on top and they were off. Anyhow, both got their backstage passes at the door, Jihyo had pulled some strings to get them, and headed in to greet the people the taller boy came to see and, maybe, make some new friends. It went all fine and dandy, the boys found their seats easily, Jihyo shook some hands on their way there, and both got quite a lot of lunch invitations from what looked suspiciously like college scouts.

“You are still being scouted?” Dahyun couldn’t help himself.

“Well, I was among the top athletes. I guess the Zhen incident spread around and people still want to give me a chance.”

“And you really don’t have any intention on taking those sports scholarships?”

“You know I don’t. I’m keeping them open, in case I don’t get the academics scholarship, but I really don’t want to be a college jock.”

“But I love you being a jock and sportsy and all.” Dahyun flirts.

“Oh, I’m keeping the body. You know very well that I’m gonna be a trophy husband and you are the one paying for our lavish lifestyle.”

“Good, because we haven’t even started using your body properly.”

“We can get right into that as soon as we get home. Mom and dad are away for the weekend.” Jihyo purrs and the pale boy was thankful they were sitting because his knees buckled right away.

Before Dahyun could gather himself and speak, the announcer stepped into the ring and began his speech. Good thing too, because what do you even say to something like that! Sure, they had to sit through six different sex talks, and were given everything they could ever want for it, even things they never even knew existed, courtesy of papa Park and mama Bae, those two talked and decided to take the kids to a shop and got mama Son in it as well, who also dragged both her boys along. Chaeyoung, poor soul, was traumatized by the talk the couple who owned the shop gave them, he hadn’t even kissed anyone before.

Now, back to our secret couple, they enjoyed their time. Dahyun was just admiring how his boyfriend lit up whenever a contestant managed a difficult move, or how he flinched when someone took a nasty hit. Jihyo, in turn, was very much entertained, he had been here before, but down there, sweaty and too overwhelmed to pay attention to anything besides his opponent. Sitting in the crowd and being able to appreciate all the moves, speculate which one he would have done instead and just watch great fighters compete was much more fun than he had ever hoped for. It was an amazing experience.

Dahyun, not really a connoisseur of the fine greco-roman fighting, often got distracted with everything else around him, among one of his surveys he spots a very familiar crowd. It was coach Zhen and his main boys on the other side of the stadium, all the way to the back, but definitely looking like they are up to no good. He decides to warn Jihyo, as the boy is entranced with the competition and paying zero attention to much else besides making sure he is still holding Dahyun’s hand and kissing his temple every now and then. 

“Ji, can you focus on me right now?” The smaller boy asks once the referee stops the fight.

“I’m always focusing on you. But is there something wrong?” Jihyo gets honestly worried.

“There’s nothing wrong, calm down. I just noticed something and I think you should know about it right now.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Look over there.” Dahyun motions to the general direction but doesn’t point to not draw attention. “Across the gym, to the left, all the way to the top of the bleachers. Zhen and his main boys are here.”

“I don’t see them, but I’ll send some texts and see what I can find out, hold up.”

“Please do, they aren’t looking like they came to enjoy the fights at all.”

“Alright, just pretend you don’t see them and I’ll see what’s up.”

Jihyo fishes his phone and does a tremendous job in not letting it show he is texting, and that gets Dahyun thinking of the potential for cheating his tests if he wasn’t one of the biggest brains their school has. They go through another entire fight before Jihyo seems to have something about the situation, the baby owl just says they should leave before the next fight and meet someone backstage, whomever it is, this person seems to know what’s up.

Once down from the bleachers, Jihyo guides Dahyun through some maze-like corridors and they arrive at a locker room, the school’s colors seem to be classical blue and gold, opposed to their charcoal black and apple red, but everyone there was so friendly that it got our pale boy impressed by how real athletes are so much different from what he was used to seeing in their school. And, with that realization, he understood why his boyfriend was always so frustrated with their former wrestling team. A cheery woman waves them in and Jihyo pulls them to her.

“Jihyo, it’s always great to see you.”

“It’s a pleasure to see you too, ma’am. Thank you for receiving us.”

“No need to be so formal, when Choi told me you were sensing trouble I told her to call you back here so we could talk.”

“Yena is very nice like that.” Jihyo feels Dahyun’s grip tighten a little. “This is my boyfriend, Kim Dahyun. And without him, I wouldn’t have noticed.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” Dahyun greets and gets grabbed into a big hug from the coach. 

“You both are so cute and polite, I wish my kids were more like this.” The woman says aloud and there is a collective whine from the kids who heard her.

“Well, ma’am, I’m sure you heard about my school’s team being dissolved and all.” The woman nods but doesn’t interrupt. “I’m not here to badmouth anyone, but coach Zhen isn’t the most honorable guy out there, he was very fond of underhanded tactics as long as he got what he wanted.”

“I know.” The woman takes a deep breath. “He doesn’t exactly have the best reputation around coaches. We all really feel for those of you who just wanted to do good. And honestly, when you refused the olympic invitation, it was a hot topic. Us coaches wanted you there, but nobody really wanted Zhen to get the credit you would bring him.”

“Thankfully I’m aiming for an academics scholarship, then. But honestly, Hyun here told me Zhen and some of his boys are in the audience, and I just thought better to get the word around quickly.”

“I’m very glad you did, Jihyo. If you excuse me, I’ll go and have a talk with the other coaches. You both are more than welcome to stick around our locker room and mingle….” The woman pauses and gets a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I’d say don’t mingle with my girls too much, but in your case, do mingle with my girls.”

Jihyo chokes and Dahyun gets an unhealthy purplish shade of red, Yena, and two other girls, who had approached them in the middle of the conversation but decided to not interfere, cackle maniacally and hi-five their coach. The woman goes out to do whatever she decided was best, while the girls try to assure the boys it was alright and there was no need to be that flustered. They end up making good conversation, however long later, the coach comes back looking very much done with everything and beyond annoyed. 

Jihyo finds it better to just head back home, given the circumstances, so he asks Dahyun to text mrs Bae to pick them up, lucky them that the woman was fairly close by on a few errands, which they promptly agree to accompany her to. Later that afternoon, Yena would text Jihyo saying a fight broke out between Zhen and some other male coach, then some boys were found in another school’s locker room doing something with their water tumblr and everyone was on edge for the rest of the event. The couple had agreed to not mention the events to their parents because, first, they weren’t really involved in any of it, second, everything had been handled by the authorities already and there was no point in bringing it up.

Our secret couple does end up choosing Jihyo’s house for the weekend, they get up to date with their studies first thing, Nayeon does message their group chat at some point and says he will be visiting and expects dinner, the bad decision in this case, was for Nayeon to get there much earlier than he said he would. Mina was the first one to point out the suggestive noises coming from Jihyo’s bedroom, Nayeon, in true Nayeon’s fashion, thought he was going to uncover some great blackmail material, Tzuyu just rolled his eyes, Jeongyeon said it was a bad idea and Mina just giggled, but all followed anyways.

Sure, they did hear a lot of groaning, mostly Jihyo’s, and a lot of moaning, mostly Dahyun’s, getting closer, they could hear some sloshing sounds and a slight creaking. Flinging the door open, Nayeon dove into the room, camera out and recording, only to stumble upon a massage session. Jihyo was giving Dahyun a back massage, the younger boy had been so tense in the morning that he got a stiff neck and started to develop a headache from the pain. The grunts and moans just naturally came up while the former wrestler tried to work out the knots, the bunny, as expected, started throwing a tantrum because he came out empty handed.


	43. About misunderstandings

It was a morning as any other, well, that if you ignore Yeri waddling and hissing around, but Minatozaki Sana, our friendly hippie, our social butterfly whom just about everybody loves, arrives at school to find a letter in his shoe locker. It’s pink, smells great and was neatly placed atop his inside shoes. Not something he never had happen to him, but unexpected nonetheless, and this letter was suspicious, to say the least.

This thing was too thin and only contained a short note:

_ Minatozaki, _

_ Meet me after school at 3 pm. _

_ By the swings on the park in front of the school. _

_ I’ll be waiting. _

And that was it, no extensive love confession, no long paragraphs about how he was charming and mysterious (not in the least) just a time and place along with a demand for him to meet this person after classes. 

“Got another love letter?” Chaeyoung asks from behind him.

“Well, looks like it. But I thought people in our school had stopped that already.”

“Looks like they haven’t.” The small boy feels a little threatened. “I guess I should make my move already, then.”

“Maybe you should.” Sana laughs. “But I wouldn’t really worry, you know I’m not about to begin courting another person if we are doing this.”

“I know, and I’d love it if I could take you on a date tomorrow, though.”

“Tomorrow is a school day?”

“Ice cream date.” Chaeyoung dictates. “I’ll take you somewhere great and you will have the best ice cream of your life.”

“Oh, mr Son, I’d love to.”

Both boys chuckle and head to class. Ever since the fishing adventure Chaeyoung has been making the effort to get closer to Sana, the japanese boy was always very friendly and receptive, the little cub was the one always hesitant about approaching him. But the moment they were back from their fishing trip, Chaeyoung had gathered his courage and asked Sana for lunch, and they went from there. Now they are courting each other, a little outdated, but Chaeyoung wanted to and Sana found it too cute to say no.

The thing is, Sana was very sought after, he had many more confessions early on, not that people have already gotten used to him being around and not really about to mingle, he doesn’t really get that many confessions anymore. That and the meanest girls around adopted him and not many were foolish enough to try and mess with their baby. Son Chaeyoung, however, was known to be the most innocent and kind heart among the first years, he had some complexes but was harmless.

According to Minnie, the one who makes it a point to know everything, was the one who took the time to get to know Chaeyoung and got to understand the boy was a little doubtful of himself and felt like he was failing just because he couldn’t live up to the expectations put on him back in middle school. It was a little pitiful, to be honest, the boy had an older brother who was an overachiever and had gotten really good looking really fast, and, despite the younger one not slacking on his academics, Chaeyoung didn’t really look like much at the moment.

Sana’s girls decided to allow his suitor to join their group and learned that, behind the horrible sense of humor, Son Chaeyoung was a nice boy trying to get a date but having absolutely no real courage to go for it. It was Elkie who pushed the short one to make a move and ask Sana out on their first date, honestly it was getting frustrating to all of them, except Sana himself who looked like he was about to squeal at any time Chaeyoung would get embarrassed about anything.

Classes couldn’t go faster for Minatozaki, and slower for Chaeyoung, one was intrigued about the sender, the other felt uneasy and very insecure about himself. By the end of classes, Sana just hugged Chaeyoung goodbye and told him he’d call later and to not wait around. Heading to the meeting place, there was a person clearly waiting for someone, the surprise was that this person was a guy from another school. 

The whole letter screamed girly, with the pink paper, the perfume, the ‘o’s as hearts, and now Sana was face to face with this huge dude, obviously foregin, burly and with an uneven stubble and creased uniform. This guy was from their neighboring school, it was a few blocks away and they shared the same subway station, how he found Sana was a mystery, and how the letter actually got delivered felt a little creepy. Our friendly neighborhood hippie decided right then he was not about this life and should cut this down right away.

“Minatozaki.” The burly boy greeted stiffly.

“Look, I got your letter and I’d like to tell you I can’t do this. I’m not the person you are looking for.” Sana fires rapidly. “I understand that you might be a little confused at the moment, but we don’t even know each other. I’m sorry, but we can’t do this. I hope you do find the person you are looking for and be happy.”

With that, Sana shoves the letter in the guy’s hands and rushes away as fast as he could. The other boy was left incredibly confused without even getting the chance to say anything. Sure, he wasn’t mistaken about Minatozaki Sana, that name and face were very famous back home and he wasn’t mistaken when he paid that other dude to slip his letter to Minatozaki. What just happened here, would remain a mystery for him.

The next morning, Jihyo had decided to walk to school with Sana, the two friends had been thinking about their new song and the shorter one had been struck with inspiration the previous night, being taken by the urgency to discuss it with his partner as soon as possible. They were talking animatedly when the baby owl remembered something.

“Sacchan!” Jihyo exclaims and gets a hmm in acknowledgement. “How did the fight go?”

“Fight? What fight?” Sana is honestly confused to the core.

“You got a challenge letter yesterday, didn’t you? Minnie said she heard from Sron who got it out of the guy that got paid to deliver the letter.”

“No? I got a love letter.” The japanese is digging deep to remember any challenges he might have had. “I got there and there was a boy from the neighboring school waiting. But I’m with Chae.”

“Oh, you two finally made it official?” Jihyo is happy and excited for his friend.

“Not yet, but that’s just because Chae needs to work through some issues. Also not the point! I never got any challenge letters.”

Jihyo decides to end this with a shrug and goes back to the music discussion, Sana forgets about said challenge fast enough. On an eerie alley, halfway between the schools, we have a burly boy raging to another and slapping the love letter at his face.


	44. Ooops?!

**LOW LIVES**

yermthegerm, youngson, hyunisbae1 and three others are in this group

yermthegerm: okay, who did it?

hyunisbae1: Manners, young man!

yermthegerm: not the time, Hyun!

hyunisbae2: but I didn’t say anything yet?

yermthegerm: I SAID NOT THE TIME!!!!!!11

DaddyBeefCake: I’ll smack you.

yermthegerm: i regret everything

wanda: Look, why don’t you just say whatever it is you have to say

Hyo will whoop you and nobody here will stop him

yermthegerm: who gave seul pringles?

hyunisbae2: you know he’s a grown man and can buy his own, right

wanda: Not in his neighborhood or around it

hyunisbae2: say what now

yermthegerm: seul has a problem

nobody sells for him anymore

DaddyBeefCake: You are telling me that Kang Seulgi

My one and only baby bear

Has a problem big enough so nobody sells him pringles

????????????

wanda: Hyo, calm down

Dubs, come get your mans

hyunisbae2: people would argue he is your mans, tho

wanda: This is what we doing now?

hyunisbae1: Enough with you two

yemrthegerm: so nobody helping out?

DaddyBeefCake: Sorry, Yermmie

We really don’t know

yermthegerm: it’s alright, thanks Hyo

  
  


**MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE**

DaddyBeefCake, hyunisbae2, mrpenguin and three others are in this group

DaddyBeefCake: Yall, Yerm is asking who gave Seul pringles

Anybody know something?

therealbunny: I saw him walking around with Younggie this morning

bombreallove: saw him with his mom at the market

I did go and say hello

never saw any pringles tho

shotthroughyo<3: They can’t buy any

Nobody around sells to them bcz mr Kang asked

mrpenguin: Why is Yerm worried???

hyunisbae2: seul ate a whole box one time and ended up having his stomach pumped

nobody trusts him wiht it anymore

*with

mrpenguin: oh.

hyunisbae2: it was ugly

still get nightmares from time to time

DaddyBeefCake: You were there?

hyunisbae2: seul, younggie and wannie were at our place

school stuff I didn’t care abt

DaddyBeefCake: I’m sorry you had to go through that

hyunisbae2: ji, I’m sleeping over

I already feel the nightmares just talking about it

DaddyBeefCake: I’ll make you some good dinner

therealbunny: you both know you can flirt somewhere else, right

DaddyBeefCake: This isn’t flirting

It’s helping Dubs with his trauma

bombreallove: well, tell us if you need anythign

*anything

hyunisbae2: will do

Later

  
  


**RED LIPS VELVET THIGHS**

hyunisbae1, wanda, legsfordays and two others are in this group

yermthegerm: anybody here knows who gaver Seul pringles?

legsfordays: somebody gave Seul pringles?

hyunisbae1: Seems like it

Dubs said Hyo and the chem boys don’t know either

yermthegerm: well, that crosses off about everyone close

zenbear: and why is this a problem?

hyunisbae1: stomach pump

zenbear: that was two years ago!

wanda: and nothing can bring back Hyun’s carpet

hyunisbae1: or my pink power ranger blankets

zenbear: yall bringing back old stuff now?

hyunisbae1: it was my favorite and you know it

I never found another like it

wanda: do you even know how much it is to change the carpet for an entire room?

legsfordays: not to mention all our uniforms that got hit in the crossfire

zenbear: fine!

yermthegerm: your mom has a few words for you, Seul

zenbear: you told her?

yermthegerm: obviously

you know I can’t lie to her

zenbear: top ten anime betrayals right there

wanda: you getting pringles behind our backs?

definitely

zenbear: I don’t wanna be in this conversatnoi anymore

*conversation

\---

mrsquirrel: so, you gotta pay them up by friday

zenbear: about that, can you get an extension?

mrsquirrel: a what now?

zenbear: Yermmie found out and told my mom

I don’t think I’ll be allowed out anytime soon

mrsquirrel: look, they already took a great risk selling to you

just do what you have to do and pay them up

zenbear: what if I can’t?

mrsquirrel: nothing I can do about it

my part was getting them to listen to you

your part is to pay them up on time

zenbear: fine, but you are responsible for my death

mrsquirrel: don’t be dramatic

just pay up and you’ll be fine

zenbear: it’s what I deserve, I guess

mrsquirrel: nice doing business with you

zenbear: yeah yeah

mrsquirrel: bye, Seul

zenbear: later Sacchan


	45. Meet the Sons

That our resident cub has some issues is common knowledge, but how deep those issues run is something very few know. You see, the Son family is very well known, for not mincing their words very well, and some members of the extended Son family aren’t as good of people as the ones we know and love so much. This is what brings us to the annual Son family reunion, and how this is complete bullshit but they still go because papa Son refuses to just relinquish his share of the inheritance to his sister. The woman is a complete asshole and she will not be getting a single extra won if papa Son can help it.

All of this just means that Seungwan and Chaeyoung have to put on their ‘let’s go see grandpa and have him show us off to his friends’ suits, make sure they take their stomach medicine and remind their mother to take her blood pressure pills. Papa Son had already taken his relaxing pills and was waiting for them in the living room, nobody really wanted to go, but they had a collective hatred towards aunt Naeun, a vile and despicable woman they had no idea how she became what she became. 

Sure, grandpa Son was a traditional and hard headed man, but he hugged his grandkids tightly when they told him they liked men, welcomed Joohyun to his house and played checkers with the boy like he was his own grandchild. He was the first one at the hospital when Chaeyoung had his first anxiety attack and told the kid it was alright and he didn’t have to get perfect marks for physics because a sculptor didn’t need to know optics to make a lump of clay into something beautiful. 

Grandma Son was even more supporting and accepting of her little munchkins, she found it hilarious that they were both so small, she would call them hug size, and never missed a single opportunity to get them on her lap to tell stories, Chaeyoung was always the more attentive to those, but Seungwan was the one who would never fail to ask her for them. 

Both Dongwoon and Naeun had been raised in this loving but strict family, and it remained a mystery how the son was exactly like his parents and the daughter became the odd one out. Sure, grandpa and grandma Son would never reject their daughter, but both were very saddened when they saw how the woman had changed during her adolescence and how she became just another chaebol who lived to throw their money away in drinks and flashy clothes to impress useless boys. The almost ten year difference between Dongwoon and Naeun also never helped, their girl was just now arriving into the real adult life while their boy was living it for a long time already. 

It also never helped that Dongwoon had met Bora in his early twenties, and both had paved a brilliant career together despite it not being the family business at all, nor that he had his boys pretty early and was over the moon with happiness about his family life and settling down so early in life. Grandpa Son had told his boy it was alright to live his life a little, but Dongwoon never looked back on his decision to marry Dahye and let her be the one to take over his family business, nor that they had kids so soon after their wedding, he wouldn’t change it for the world. 

Naeun, however, went to an all girls’ school, her friends had all been the rich daughters meant to be seen and not heard, girls who would forever live with the family money and never need to do anything other than look pretty and cause scandals. She made friends in questionable places and opted to embrace the lavish lifestyle, each time the boys saw her she had a different boy toy hanging around her worse than the last, and loved to tell each and every one of them about her gay nephews just to get their input on it. Always loud enough for everyone to hear.

This annual reunion always happened on grandpa Son’s birthday, he was one of the big names in entertainment technology along with his partner, grandma Moon, grandma Son’s sister. You need something for your home studio? Performing on the streets? A concert? They have it. Son & Moon Electronics started as a small company that made really good microphones and speakers, they were so good that they began making more and more products and buying bigger buildings. Now they had three factories spread through Korea and six more abroad, S&ME equipment was also sold in another twelve countries.

Honestly, it was all just a media circus show for investidors and potential clients to see how united and strong the founders stood and how their families were more than capable to keep the business running without a hitch. All their kids, grandkids and in-laws were to appear and pose for the cameras, mingle and entertain the party goers, if only to make sure the right rumors were circulating among the right people. One might question why it was on grandpa Son’s birthday and not on Moon grandma’s, that would be because grandma Son and grandma Moon were twins and both celebrated their birthdays together with close family only, no matter what.

Seungwan had been asked to bring Joohyun along this year, which the boy convinced his grandfather to leave for grandma’s birthday instead of his, under the argument that he wouldn’t be able to entertain guests properly if Joohyun was there. In reality, the older Bae just didn’t want to lose his peace so soon and get to be known worldwide, maybe after they got engaged it would be inevitable, but for now, he really wanted to remain as an ordinary highschool boy. Regardless, it would be a very stressful day for everyone.

“Oh, look who is here.” Naeun slurs as her brother and his family approach. 

“Dongwoon!” Grandpa Son greets, ignoring his daughter completely. “What took you all so long?”

“Sorry, dad. The reporters held Dahye outside and wouldn’t let us get in.”

“They should be gone soon.” The old man pulls his son and daughter in-law into a tight hug. “And Dahye plays them like a fiddle.”

“I try my best, dad.” Dahye grunts. Grandpa Son might be old, but he was strong as an ox.

“You should give yourself more credit.” He releases them. “Handling the company is a challenge, I’d know.”

“Can you let them move along?” Grandma Moon scolds playfully. “We want to hug them too!”

“Auntie Myeonnie!” Dongwoon greets like a five year-old boy, something he never changed and the woman loved.

“Come here, boy. Tell auntie what you’ve been up to.” The old woman chuckles.

As mama and papa Son move along to greet grandma Moon and, later, grandma Son, who was coming back from wherever she went. As grandpa Son turns to his grandkids, Naeun starts throwing her usual comments towards them, her current boy toy joins in easily his comments are, if possible, worse than hers and there is nothing grandpa Son can do about it that won’t cause a scene. All he can do is pull the boys as far away from them as possible, sitting back where he was originally and pulling both to his lap, as he never failed to do since they were born.

Keeping appearances is hell, grandpa Son had already registered his will, Naeun was completely cut off after he was gone, he left her one simple house at the suburbs and one popular car, along with some money to survive the first year if she was sensible, but nothing else. She brought it upon herself through the years, but he can’t really do much at the moment, she still lives with him and the further he can go is to cut off her cards and not allow her to get a car. High society and their rules for success dictate that no matter what, no family member should be cast out, sure, Naeun was their daughter and grandpa and grandma Son loved her as such, but not being able to teach her better and harder lessons was difficult as she was growing up, and now it’s just too late. 

“Boys, the Parks are here.” Papa Son tells his children, his phone still in hand. “Jihyo came too.”

“Jihyo?” Grandpa Son asks, very interested. 

“You remember Bora’s kid? It’s him.” Dongwoon explains. “He never really came, usually he would be training and dieting, but this year he quit the team and decided to show up.”

“Oh, last time I saw him he was a little baby, bumbling around with Wannie.” Grandpa Son smiles wide. “Go get them, I haven’t seen Bora and Chanyeol for too long.”

“I’ll be right back with them, dad.”

Papa Son finds them pretty easily, Chanyeol stands out like a sore thumb among the short old men trying to woo his wife into some shady business. Not to mention there were two heads of very bright hairs beside her, Jihyo and Dahyun seemed to have dyed their hair. It wasn’t against school rule at all, and while Dahyun dyed his very frequently, Jihyo never felt like doing anything, mostly because he always had it very short to make the greco-roman helmet fit better. Now it was strawberry pink and Dahyun’s was blue, their very dark beards were a stark contrast to their hairs but so well trimmed and combed that Seungwan could only reconsider the rumors and make them true.

“Hyo, Dubs!” Chaeyoung greets happily. “I didn’t know you two were coming.”

“Hey, Chae.” Jihyo turns like the handsome trophy boyfriend he is and brings the cub into a tight hug. 

Dahyun had seen the expressions on the Son brothers’ faces since they got here, and it was even more amusing now that it was their friends. He knew Jihyo was entrancing, but whenever they had to dress up, both would get stared at a lot, and it was never not funny seeing people trying to compose themselves and speak to them. But what the younger Bae also knew was that Jihyo was more eye-catching than himself, he was slightly more muscular and a little bigger, his tanned skin, bright smile and starry eyes never failed to put a spell on the unprepared. Seungwan looked like he was ready to risk it all, he pulled his phone out, snapped a picture of the couple and sent it to the group chat with everyone.

The picture came out beautiful, Dahyun had a hand on his pocket and another on Jihyo’s lower back, the taller one was holding a glass and the other hand gesticulating something to Chaeyoung, they were in front of a flower bed section in the garden and the sun was hitting in an angle that made everything look just magical. That was it, Seungwan was framing the picture Joohyun will understand…. Joohyun would also, most likely, end up with a copy of the picture on the picture shelf too. The older Son snapped out of his daze when his little brother yanked him towards their friends, they all seemed to have told him something.

“Looky here, aren’t you a pretty sight.” Naeun says once she runs into Jihyo.

They were around the bathroom area, Jihyo was waiting for Dahyun to finish his business, Naeun was going back to the party, her boytoy nowhere in sight. She saw a handsome young man standing alone, his suit hugging all the right places and she could see he was very well gifted overall, her boytoy not as fun anymore, what was his name again? This one here was a little on the shorter side, but she was already feeling excited thinking about those strong arms throwing her to bed and pinning her down. Time for a hunt.

Jihyo, however, knew all about aunt Naeun, he did grow up with her nephews, he held Chaeyoung through panic attacks every time the boy came back from an encounter with her, he was the one to help Seugnwan build his courage to ask Joohyun out back up after he had to sit through a whole dinner beside the woman. Naeun was wasting her efforts, not that she knew that. But Jihyo opted to let her do whatever it was she intended and just pour a bucket of cold water on her as soon as Dahyun is back. The woman was obviously under the influence and did not notice he was very much not interested and very much jailbait, this should be fun.

“Thank you, ma’am.” He answers with a small bow. “Would you like some assistance finding your companion?”

“I think I’m looking at my new companion.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I don’t think this conversation is appropriate.”

“Of course it is, inappropriate would be me not coming over to talk to you.”

“Ma’am, I’m not sure your companion would appreciate this conversation very much.”

“Who?”

“The gentleman walking over here?” Jihyo points to boytoy looking pissed and marching over to them.

“Oh, him.” Naeun huffs, clearly displeased. 

“What is this?” Boytoy demands, his voice is as irritating as his image.

“What are you doing here?” The woman asks, already losing her patience.

“I came to see what was taking you so long and find you here with this chump?” Okay, rude.

“I don’t know what you think is happening here.” Jihyo begins, already fixing his stance. 

“I think you are hitting on my girlfriend and that you need to learn not to touch what’s not yours.”

“But I never touched her at all?” Jihyo’s big eyes are the ultimate weapon for sarcasm, and he uses them right now to give his best innocent look.

Dahyun gets out of the bathroom and makes eye contact, understanding to wait for his cue to swoop in.

“Don’t pretend you are innocent!” Boytoy lashes out. “I saw you.”

“Sir, I don’t know what you believe you saw, but I was just standing here.”

“Yeah, like anyone would be this secluded from the party without other intentions.” Boytoy takes a step forward, already puffing himself up for a fight.

“Hey, love.” Dahyun swoops in. “Who are your friends?”

Jihyo naturally lets his arms wrap around his boyfriend, kissing Dahyun lovingly but quickly, and gets enveloped by the shorter boy creating such an intimate scene boytoy has to blink a few times to understand what was going on. Aunt Naeun looks glitched, but nobody was really paying attention to her at the moment.

“I don’t know, hun. Ma’am here came up to say hi and I asked if she needed help finding her companion.” Jihyo moves a little to fully accommodate his lover once he sees there is no more danger. “But this sir right here arrived before she could answer.”

“Oh, now that they are together, could we go back to the boys? Mom did say we were about to leave.”

“Absolutely. Ma’am, sir.”

Both boys give a quick bow and leave, making sure they have a hand on their pocket because it makes their pants tighter and they knew aunt Naeun was looking. Between the two, Dahyun was the one with the bigger and rounder butt and Jihyo the one with thicker legs, together they were a jailbait feast for hungry eyes. It felt nice to see the woman frustrated for once, and the indignant grunt they heard as they turned back into the party was just the cherry on top.

Chaeyoung jumps them and locks arms with Dahyun the moment they get back to the main table, Jihyo laughs and moves to talk to grandpa Son and Seungwan. The dinner had ended less than an hour before and mama Park was just discussing some last business related proposals they got through the event. Grandpa Son had pulled Jihyo to sit on his lap as soon as the boy was on arm’s reach, Naeun came back to her parents coddling that handsome man from the bathroom, boytoy is immediately bothered and she isn’t feeling that great either.

“Naeun, it’s nice of you to re-join us.” Grandma Son greets her daughter.

The woman just nods, too perplexed with the scene she’s witnessing, who is this man exactly and why is her father carrying him on his lap. Nothing is making sense anymore. Jihyo sees their faces and tries to bite back the smile trying to form, Dahyun saw it too and just laughed freely, not that Chaeyoung understood anything but the pale boy didn’t care much at the moment. 

“Remember baby Jihyo?” Grandpa Son speaks up. “Look at how much he’s grown. To think last time Wannie brought him here they were wobbling around between our legs.”

“This is Jihyo?” Naeun looks like she is about to pass out.

“Jihyo, go get Hyun and we have to leave.” Mama Park says as she returns.

“Noooo!” Grandpa Son whines and tightens his hold. “I haven’t seen little Jihyo in years!”

“How about I bring him over for the holiday and we can all have fun for the whole four days?” Seungwan comes to the rescue.

“And all the boyfriends too?” Grandpa Son negotiates.

“Well, Chaengie has to actually ask Sacchan out before that, but sure.” Seungwan agrees easily. “We will all come and spend the entire holiday.”

“Promise?” The old man holds out his pinky for Jihyo.

“I promise.” Jihyo chuckles and catches the pinky with his own.

Grandma Son was looking at her boys with honey dripping from her eyes, she knew about the Parks, her husband and sister as well, and ended up taking Jihyo in as her own grandson. The boy was always so shy and disciplined she just wanted to spoil him rotten, and looking at him now, Jihyo indeed grew up to be an outstanding man, and his boyfriend was born to entertain the masses, as she noticed. Now Grandma and grandpa Son are pumped up and anxious about the next holiday, she was already listing down everything she was going to cook for the boys and how she couldn’t wait to have her house full and noisy again. At the same time, grandpa Son was coming up with all the activities he was dragging the boys to.


	46. Little cub attack!

What could go wrong with a wednesday morning, right? The week has been pretty ordinary so far, nothing too exciting nor too mundane happening, everyone had their own things going on, nobody exactly free but not too busy they couldn’t take a moment for themselves either. On this fine morning, we have Son Chaeyoung a little nervous. He decided today was the day he would ask Sana out officially and nothing was stopping him. The little cub had asked the older boy to come to school earlier so they could have breakfast together and then he would ask, Seungwan had even baked them some cupcakes and some brownies.

“I do hope you are thinking about me.” A sultry voice whispers on the cub’s ear.

“I’m always thinking about you.” Chaeyoung answers with a fond smile.

“Charming, but I would believe you more if we were, you know, together together.”

“That’s the main reason I set all of that up today.” The smaller boy points at the picnic setting he prepared.

“Wait, what?” The japanese was certainly not expecting this.

“Could you, please, just humor me? I even had to beg Wan to bake for this. Can I just do it like I planned?” The pout and puppy eyes combo is deadly.

“Sure you can.” Sana smirks. “But I can just say yes now and we can have breakfast while stealing kisses from each other.”

“I like that plan a little better.”

“Then ask, you dofus.”

“Be my boyfriend?”

Sana pretends to think before smiling. “I was thinking more on the ‘put a ring on it’ side, but we can start with boyfriend.”

“What?” It was Chaeyoung’s turn to be surprised.

“Let’s just eat, more students will start arriving soon.” Sana steals a kiss and drags Chaeyoung to the mat. 

Sure, they were sitting in the teachers’ garden, and nobody would willingly come around this time in the morning, and their backpacks were already in their respective classrooms, but Chaeyoung did not want Dahyun or Yeri to see him like this. To say time flew away was an understatement, and Chaeyoung decided he needed to get a gift for his brother, those brownies were downright illegal. Sana was just happy he could kiss the little cub, finally, even the girls were getting impatient about it already.

Now, one would think this day would only get better, and everybody would be fairly content. One would be wrong, because while Chaeyoung and Sana are very happy and heading to the Sons house to tell mama and papa Son about the relationship (mama and papa Minatozaki wouldn’t be home until much later and they agreed to just tell them on friday), our devil’s spawn Kim Yerim is very much bored. Seulgi had football practice and then he was going to have to clean the guest room for his cousin. Saint cousin was coming to check out a few schools around the area because he was moving back to town with his parents.

If Yeri had anything better to do, nobody would be bothered and nobody would be out trying to murder him. Kim Yerim is known to seek trouble when it doesn’t come to him, and that’s how we have our resident little devil sending a message to a certain group chat in hopes to stir shit up.

‘Applesauce is a smoothie’

The message read, and he was met with everyone there ignoring it and continuing their business as if nothing happened. He tried another group, then another, and a third one after that, this time he got

‘So is ketchup’

From Mina and THEN everyone proceeded to ignore him. But Kim Yerim is not a quitter, and he will get his argument if he has to message every single contact on his phone, so be it.

On the sixth? seventh? group he tried, Chaeyoung promised he would break Yeri’s fingers if he saw that sentence one more time. Yeri sent him a private message with it and waited, he got his stirring up. What Yeri did not know, however, was that Chaeyoung had been hitting the gym with Sana lately, it was just an excuse to spend more time with the boy (Sana’s girls were there too, though), and got much stronger than Yeri remembered.

Once the door flung open, Yeri was already waiting, he was ready to take the cub on, trusting he would win as always, imagine his surprise when he found himself laying on his back in a lot of pain, having being socked on the chest with everything Chaeyoung had and was finding it hard to breathe. Our little devil could only try his best to protect his face as our cub continued whooping his ass, as promised. Chaeyoung did not break his fingers, however. The beating up was quick, but effective, once he was done, Chaeyoung got up and went to the kitchen to get the cool compresses from the freezer to give to his friend.

Yeri got into so much trouble that his dad had gone out and bought about ten of those gel compresses for the boy. Yeri would come back home bruised more often than not, and they just accepted that adapting was better than trying to stop him. Chaeyoung also got some ointment for the already purpling areas and helped Yeri tending to the bruises. One might ask, but didn’t they just fight? They did, and they are cool now. It is part of how their dynamic works. 

“You are stronger than I remember.” Yeri grunted as he was hoisted to his bed.

“I’ve been going to the gym with Sana and the girls.”

“If I didn’t know you are completely whipped for that japanese hippie-”

“That’s my boyfriend you are talking about!”

“Congrats, but he’s a japanese hippie.”

“I can’t really say no to that.”

“Anyways, if I didn’t know you are completely at his mercy, I’d say you two are getting it on with the girls.”

“Who told you we aren’t?”

“Like I don’t know you.”

“Fair.”

“But, hey, at least now you got your guy.”

“Yup, and you!” Chaeyoung threatens, getting up to leave. “Stop annoying everyone just because Seul got other things to do and not entertain your sorry ass.”

“I’m starting to think I should put some more time into club activities.”

“Weren’t you banned or something?”

“That was the fashion club, I’m in the cooking club now.”

“Well, then go there and do some cooking, idiot.”

“Will do, loser.”

“See you tomorrow.” Chaeyoung chuckles and leaves.

The cub says goodbye to mr Kim, who was sitting in the living room and pops his head in the kitchen quickly to say goodbye to mrs Kim, before heading home, he still had Sana waiting for him so they could go and talk to mama and papa Son. The japanese had been left in the care of Elkie and Shuhua, at the ice cream shop, courtesy of Son Chaeyoung himself. The girls had laughed their asses off when they saw how much Yeri was earning for some trouble, Sana was just utterly amused by everything, the japanese knew his boyfriend had a deep bond with everyone’s favorite devil, but running to his house just to beat him up over text messages was another level of friendship.

Mr and mrs Son were thrilled to meet Sana, constantly asking him if he was sure he wanted their youngest, which Sana would confirm over and over again that yes, he was certain, Seungwan got home and was also very happy. One thing Sana did learn that night was that the Sons were a loving family and definitely huggers, he was in heaven and had found the right one to have in his life. Everything was a little awkward when mama Son declared it was time they had the talk, Seungwan, that traitor, slipped away claiming he did not want to go through that again and wishing them luck. But, Sana also knew his parents would give them the talk too, maybe a bit more technical because, you know, scientists, and Chaeyoung will sit through it lovingly just like he was.


	47. Seulgi, the popular bear

The Kang family is actually very big, and all of them try to keep as close relations as possible with each other, Seulgi’s father, for example, has two brothers and a sister, all have pajama parties together to this day. No, it’s not a teen thing, shut up. So, when mr Kang’s sister says she is moving back to Seoul, he immediately announced he would be taking care of her family and they could just stay at his house as long as they needed to. 

That ensued a fight between the brothers, the eldest won, but it fell to Seulgi, though his father was the youngest, to take care of his cousin and show him around, they would be going to the same school anyway. Everyone agreed that it would be better if the boys stuck together, not that the other cousins weren’t up to par, but Seulgi and Daniel were the ones at the same age, their older cousins were already in college and they didn’t want to keep the women from their studies. The younger cousins couldn’t really tour Daniel through his future school, mostly because they were trying to get into the very same school and had to keep their grades up for that and didn’t have that much time in the end.

Seulgi was excused from practice for the week, Sooyoung talked to their coach himself and the student office agreed to allow the friendly bear to take the lead on this. Plus, Seulgi was part of the welcoming committee, and the student council wouldn’t oppose it either…. That, and Sooyoung was the vice-president, he had Chungha in the palm of his hand and could shut down any opposition the girl might possibly bring up, not that she ever really would, she also liked Seulgi like a little brother, they’ve known each other since kindergarten and all the boy had to do was bat his eyelashes and pout a little and Chungha would give in.

“So, how do we do this?” Daniel asked when he got to the schoolgates.

“I’m your guide and show you all the good spots.” Seulgi answers happily.

“Take me away, little cuz.”

“You do understand I’m as tall as you, right?”

“Not the point.”

Daniel laughs and hugs his cousin, both walking into the school grounds. First stop was the student office to get the visitor pass before starting their tour. They started with the building they were in, it was just the offices and classrooms, the labs, library, studios, courts and everything else were on other buildings. They went through everything fairly quickly, there were only the student council and the debate club around. Getting to the fields was much more interesting, first stop was the track club, they used the space closer to the classroom building, Jeongyeon runs by them and doesn’t miss the opportunity to rub his sweaty self on Seulgi before running off again, Daniel just laughs.

Next, they moved to the cheerleaders, Sana was at the bleachers and started a wave of flirtatious catcalls and kissy faces, quickly followed by Seunghee and Shuhua, then the other girls joined and didn’t stop until Seulgi was out of earshot. That was when they got to the football field, the team was on a break, that meant the boys spotted their favorite kicker and immediately proceeded to huddle around him and attempt some seductive dancing, well, as seductive as a bunch of teenage boys in full football gear could get. Daniel was finding everything incredibly amusing, he never knew his cousin was that popular around school and had this many friends.

They make their way to the basketball court, where Nayeon points Seulgi out to Mina, who shoots up and starts his weird, but not at all unusual, roleplay of, you shall not steal my boyfriend. It was always fun, mostly because Seulgi got too invested and Mina never failed to match up to him. Then they get to the other court, where the greco-roman was supposed to be, now the theatre club was using the space for rehearsals, Minnie just blew a few kisses and got back to what she was doing, the other kids never stopped rehearsal at all.

“I never imagined you were so popular.” Daniel chuckled.

“Neither did I. Must be because Minnie heard my cousin was visiting and made sure everyone else knew as well.”

“Minnie?”

“Theatre club president, we just passed by her.”

“Oh, the one who just blew a kiss and went back to looking pissed?”

“That one, she’s the one to go to if you want to know anything around here. Information comes with a price, though. Remember that.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. Where are we headed?”

“Well, the auditorium is over there.” Seulgi points out to the big building to their left. “But it’s just the rest of the theatre club rehearsing over there, so I thought of skipping.”

“Good thinking.”

“Then we are going over the labs and studios, come on.”

They head inside the other big building, the first floor were the dance studios, you know, stomping noises and all, the boys find Sana in one of those, the japanese boy jumps on Seulgi’s arms (quite literally), peppering his face with kisses and giggling, Daniel was introduced at some point there, but Sana was too busy giving love to the bear. Then they head out to the art studios, second floor, where they find Chaeyoung and Yeri on some shadow sculpting, Seulgi really doesn’t want to know, the devil duo greets them enthusiastically, asking about what they see on the wall, Daniel was very brave when he said the shadow looked like a duck, obviously not what the two were intending.

They leave fast, Seulgi doesn’t forget to kiss his boyfriend lovingly before he leaves, but they are out of there right as Chaeyoung starts screaming and destroying everything. Just another day of the devil duo trying their hand at different things to express themselves. Daniel laughed heartily at that, he knew of Yeri but never thought the boy would be this intense in person, his admiration for his cousin’s patience grew a bit more. Then they find Dahyun, finally, working on one of his pieces, the room was immaculate, completely white and not a single drop of paint on the floor, very weird for an art room, but the artist was known to be unusual and Seulgi made sure they didn’t linger for long.

Then they head to the other side of the building, where the labs were, first floor for the chemistry labs, second for biology and third for physics, both stop by the clubs for a quick visit and move on. On the third floor, at last but not least, they get to the music rooms, there are a few group rooms, the big one for the band and a few studios, they find Jihyo in one of those, and that’s when the problem arises, our resident Jigglypuff lovechild was working in one of his lyrics, trying out what would fit best with Sana’s composition before calling the japanese in to record. Seulgi just sat down for a while, enjoying the cooling air conditioning while they waited for Jihyo to come out of the booth.

Daniel, in turn, seem to have frozen as soon as he entered, looking at the window of the recording booth, his eyes were shining, but his cousin didn’t notice, Seulgi was more worried about sitting down for a while and stealing one of Jihyo’s water bottles to really see what was happening. Once our baby owl came out of the booth, Daniel felt his breath hitch and his heart skip a few beats, when their eyes met, the taller boy was certain he would faint right then and there. Seulgi jumped up and hugged his friend enthusiastically, he hadn’t had the chance to really talk to Jihyo in person for a while and Kang Seulgi was definitely a hugger, then he introduced his cousin and both started planning to gather everyone to actually meet Daniel, who, in turn, was just there trying not to embarrass himself.


	48. Minnie takes a stroll

It was a normal day, well, as normal as it gets with our crew, when Minnie got an itch, she knew something was happening and she had to know what, when and with whom. Theater club was going to have to make do without her, because something was definitely going on behind her back and she needed to change that immediately. So, our gossip queen set out to get updated on her own, her informants were clearly not up to par and she would have to have a word with them soon. First stop, the chemistry club, it was the closest to where she was and by far the most intense.

Today only Nayeon and Jeongyeon were present from the problem trio, they were also the ones who would talk too much when arguing, making this the perfect opportunity to get some juicy gossip straight from the source. Sure enough, they were arguing, Minnie hangs around and hears something interesting.

“You go around my back with Tzu!” Jeongyeon screams, waving his phone showing a picture of his boyfriend hugging Nayeon.

“You were literally running! Were we supposed to wait for you?” The bunny argues.

Minnie is satisfied and writes it down and walks away. What she did miss were both Mina and Tzuyu sitting by the door, giggling among themselves and very entertained about what was happening.

“Jeongie, you know Yeonnie was very anxious.” Tzuyu decides to intervene. “You were still running and Mina wasn’t here yet.”

“I know, but I wanted to be the one comforting him.” Jeongyeon mumbles with a pout.

“You are too cute.” Mina squeals as he crushes Jeongyeon in a hug with Tzuyu.

Nayeon watches on fondly, he knew Jeong was a little sulky when he found out about not being there to comfort him, it was all just too cute and he jumped in the hug squealing too. As Minnie walked somewhere else, she came across Yeri and Chaeyoung in one of the art rooms, they were sitting very close together, whispering, and Yeri was shirtless. This was definitely interesting, and she didn’t really need to see much more, this was already enough info.

What Minnie didn’t see, once again, was that the boys were looking at the camera in Chaeyoung’s hands, they were working on a photography project, extra credit that Yeri definitely needed, and it was about the body in movement. Chaeyeoung had suggested they explored how the body moved in everyday activities, and Yeri was skinny enough that when he moved, his muscles showed enough. With some editing to make Yeri’s body lines pop a little more, the photos would fit the project perfectly and they would get the highest marks, but that is yet to come and Minnie wasn’t interested.

Then, the gossip queen spots a small white boy speed walking to one of the music rooms, her interest only picked because it was the older Bae, one who was never really around these parts. She followed and saw him come to a halt at the door to one of the larger rooms, he threw it open and gasped, then screamed.

“Cannibalism!” 

It was as loud as the boy was on the field, and Minnie hurried to see who he was talking to, she saw Jihyo, Sana and Dahyun inside the room, all had their mouths full of something. The girl took it all at face value, and wondered how could cannibals look that adorable with their cheeks puffed with food. She made some notes and walked away, not wanting to get involved in this unless she had to.

“Oh, hey big bro!” Dahyun greeted. “Want some?”

“You are all cannibals!”

“We have a latte for you too.” Jihyo offers, giving the older boy the cup they had for him.

“I’m just taking it because you already bought it.” Joohyun grumbles and takes a seat.

“Sure thing, Hyun.” Sana smirks, passing over the box of cinnamon buns. “Like you aren’t one of us too.”

Jihyo and Dahyun bark out laughter, almost choking, and Joohyun can only look sulky as he tries to be angry while eating the treats. Honestly, they were too good to eat in a bad mood. Minnie, then, arrives at a student council meeting, well the end of it, and spots Chungha and Seulgi talking while looking at Sooyoung, surely they must be talking about some juicy gossip, so she approaches and listens in.

“Well, he is quite charming.” Chungha offers.

“He is, but his height doesn’t bother you that much?”

“Why would it?”

“I mean, it’s quite the difference between you both.”

“True, but I’m interested regardless.” Chungha chuckles. “Can you get me a date or not?”

“I can put in a good word for you, but I can’t make anyone do anything.” Seulgi argues.

“That’s all I can ask for, really.” The president loops her arms around Seulgi’s and rests her head on the boy’s shoulder, still looking at Sooyoung. 

Minnie decides it’s enough intel and walks away, just as Sooyoung finishes his conversation and re-joins the two who were waiting for him. 

“What’s up?” The taller boy asks.

“Hacchan was asking me about Dandan.” The monolided boy explains.

“I must admit he is, indeed, a good looking guy.” Sooyoung agrees.

“I mean, it’s worth a try, right?!” Chungha shrugs.

“I’ll talk to him.” Seulgi promises.

The trio giggles and heads out, talking about nothing specific while throwing some teasing around, they were good friends, despite not really having that much time to hang out together. Student council work never really ended, and with both boys also on the football team, while Chungha was also in the dance club, they mostly had after council meetings to really relax and talk. Minnie, then, headed out to the fields, the cheer squad was on a strength building day, so the girls were exercising instead of jumping around today. Our gossip queen heard a few more interesting things here and there and decided it was enough.

Minnie had acquired some great information and sated her thirst for information on others, she didn’t really know everything she heard was not exactly what she thought it was, but the girl won’t find that out anytime soon.


	49. Jihyo did an oopsie

Dahyun was, debatably, a saint, the boy grew up as the support system for his older brother, who went through some very rough times at the beginning of his athlete career, people would always put him down and not spare the hateful comments. Then Seungwan came along and he got another big brother, this time, an anxiety riddled one, whom he hugged through an anxiety attack more times than he remembered. Chaeyoung came as a breath of fresh air, but also as a tornado, being younger and more energetic than our little tofu. 

When Dahyun met Jihyo, he was drawn in by the bright smile and the eyes that reflected a whole universe. They got close easily, both were easy-going and clicked perfectly with each other. Jihyo had a problem with his big heart, and Dahyun loved him for that, despite this, they would come to a few bumps in their relationship here and there and there was nothing Jihyo hated more than seeing Dahyun sad because of him and not knowing exactly what he did to cause it. This was one of those instances.

A few days before, Jihyo had found a new stray, and he wanted to keep this one, as Bomb had been getting friskier with Herbert and was rarely home, he was starting to feel neglected by his own cat and took the chance to adopt another one. It’s not that Ppuyo was bad, he was a very young kitten and needed a lot of care, Jihyo found him dehydrated and starving in an alley and if it took just another day, the boy might have found a dead kitten and this would be about how heartbroken he was. But now that the kitten had been out of the clinic, Jihyo had been spending every waking hour with him, boyfriend duties be damned.

Dahyun, on the other hand, had been a bit down lately, one of his pieces got destroyed by a fucking hipster taking a selfie, during an exhibition that was a qualifier for a contest he really wanted to participate. The competition judges were deliberating to see what would happen, but his painting was already ruined and there was nothing else ready that fit the theme. Sure, there wasn’t much anyone could do, but he appreciated being pampered in moments like these and one of the people who should be pampering him, at least a little, wasn’t even answering his texts because he got a new cat and suddenly the world didn’t matter anymore.

So, Bae junior resorted to others, Joohyun and Seungwan had been cuddling him to sleep from the day he got the call, Chaeyoung and Yeri came by as much as they could to just goof around and try to not let him think about the problem. Seulgi, bless his heart, despite having to take care of his cousin, started getting up earlier to go jog with Dahyun, sometimes Daniel joined too, and even Nayeon and Jeongyeon were pampering him in the irritating and completely heartwarming way that was so them, by making fun of the pale boy, and each other, until he laughed. Even Tzuyu and Mina would silently sit with him for hours, their own awkward way to cheer him up. And despite all that, Jihyo thought it was enough to just go by his classroom before school started and give him a kiss on the cheek. 

On his part, Jihyo thought everything was going fine, sure, he wasn’t seeing his boyfriend that much, but they were fine. Dahyun had a lot of great friends, and it’s not like anybody could do much, what happened happened and it was up to the judges to determine the outcome, Ppuyo was there and there was a lot Jihyo could do about him. Now, as much as the pale boy loved him, this was going a little too far, nothing against the cat, at all, it was young and still very weak, but Jihyo didn’t have to cancel every time his boyfriend called him nor stopping Dahyun from going to his house at all. Even Sunmi had been complaining about his absence during club meetings.

Dahyun was tired, he was drained emotionally and stressed physically, so he did what anyone in his state would do, he shut out whatever was draining him and decided to drown himself in work to try and not go down the rabbit whole. Sure, his friends were still dragging him around and making sure he was taking care of himself, but if Jihyo deemed he was not important to spare him a minute, so be it. Since the painting was gone and the younger Bae was hopeful that he would be allowed to submit another piece, he began working on a new one to fit the theme and stand a chance in the competition.

It took a week, but Dahyun finished his piece, just two days before he got a call from the contest organizers, telling him to submit a new piece, and saying they would pick it up for it to be analyzed behind closed doors to avoid further troubles. He was also granted a few extra points for the accident was a mistake on the organizers and they were beyond ashamed about the whole thing, how much they had to beg the judges, Dahyun really didn’t care, he was just happy that he wasn’t out. This was one of his tickets to university, and in a few of the ones he was flirting with. Jihyo was still in radio silence, so the younger boy asked his brother and his boyfriend to go celebrate with him, mr and mrs Bae took the kids for dinner, Dahyun chose mrs Park’s restaurant just out of spite.

Mrs Park and mr Son were very happy to hear Dahyun was getting another chance, both had been worried when they were told about the tragedy. The woman sat them at the chef’s table (not that she would let them sit anywhere else) and ran away to the kitchen to make Dahyun’s favorite ice cream, which the boy was ecstatic about and made sure to hug mrs Park extra tight. The dinner was fun, a lot of laughter, mrs Park left the kitchen to eat with them, mrs Son did his best to participate, but there wasn’t really anyone who could take over in his absence, so the man would have to leave the table every now and then. But it was nice, mrs Park knew of what her son was doing, she wasn’t blind, nor dumb, and was a little relieved that Dahyun didn’t ask anything, so she never said anything either.

A little over a month since Jihyo had stopped contacting Dahyun and started spending all his time holled up in his backyard with his two cats and Herbert, Nayeon and Jeongyeon had it. They weren’t very known for being patient, and even less for measuring their words when they got fed up with something, Tzuyu and Mina were saints for being able to handle them at their worst. But this time, the quiet duo weren’t making a single move to get things under control, they saw how down Dahyun had been and how much of an idiot Jihyo was, especially when Jihyo started talking to that new Kang kid. It was absolutely not okay for Jihyo to get chummy with someone new and still not be there for his boyfriend.

Jihyo was, as usual lately, in his backyard watching Ppuyo play around with Herbert as Bomb was enjoying a nice nap. Jeongyeon, the more physically violent one, walked through the Park’s backdoor and immediately planted a nice, hard kick on Jihyo’s back. That would prove to be nothing after Nayeon started talking, but we’ll get there. The youngest of the trio was so surprised that he didn’t really react, and Jeongyeon decided he needed another kick, this time on his shin. Jihyo screamed in pain, despite Jeongyeon not being a fighter, his legs were strong like a bull’s, curse the track team.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jihyo screamed frustrated.

“That’s what we would like to know.” Nayeon spits. “What’s your problem?”

“I was just here watching my cats, what do you mean?”

“Exactly, you are always watching your damn cats. Now, I’ll give you a minute to see the problem here.” The eldest sat on the sofa on the back porch.

“I really want to kick you again, but I’ll leave it for later.” Jeongyeon says and takes his place beside Nayeon.

“I really don’t know what you are on about.”

“You are being an idiot and about to lose your boyfriend because of a damn cat, that’s what we are on about.” The eldest spits.

“Dahyun and I are fine, what are you talking about?”

“Fine?” Nayeon scoffs and Jeongyeon almost jumps his friend again though remains silent. “When was the last time you talked to him? Do you even know exactly what happened? Do you know what the organizers decided? You do realize just because your scholarship rides on studying hard, he needs to work hard on his pieces. I bet you didn’t even think about how the accident would affect his future, did you? And now we see you have plenty of time to get chummy with that Kang guy but Dubs has yet to hear from you.”

Okay, that hurt and Jihyo wished Jeongyeon would just beat him up and never let Nayeon speak again. But that was how they worked, while Jeong would kick your ass then call it a day, Nayeon would never lay a finger on anyone, he would tell you all the truths you didn’t want to hear and not let himself be stopped until he got everything out. Don’t be mistaken, Nayeon can handle himself very well in a fight if he meant to, but his power was on his words, they cut deep and he struck with certainty. Jihyo never stood a chance once those two decided he needed some waking up.

Seeing the younger boy frozen, Jeongyeon stood up and motioned for Nayeon to follow, they had done what they came to do and it’s not like Jihyo would really respond to much more at this moment. One the older duo left, Jihyo allowed himself to move and sat on the sofa they were on. What was he doing? How did he let his boyfriend go unattended for so long? How did he ever think this would be acceptable behaviour? Was Dahyun even dating him still? 

In another part of town, Dahyun was having a lot of fun with Chaeyoung and Yeri, they had gone out because the younger two wanted to find new inspiration for the cooking club. Their theme was ice cream, and what better place to start then mrs Park’s ice cream joint, nothing like a Michelin chef helping them understand how to make the treat. The woman was very happy to see youngsters and wasted no time in ushering them to wash up, protect themselves and into her kitchen, where she introduced the dessert chef but taught the boys how to cook herself. It had been too long since she saw Dahyun and was missing the boy dearly, but she knew not to ask her own son about it.

They had fun, the ice cream they made was fairly good, and mrs Park did teach them with everyday ingredients only, everything easy enough for highschoolers to replicate on their own, Dahyun recorded for them and wrote down the ingredients, he saw both Chaeyoung and Yeri were just too excited to think about these. All in all, the pale boy was doing much better, still saddened about how things turned out, but moving forward and living his life to the best he could regardless. Not that Jihyo didn’t mean a lot, but Dahyun just couldn’t keep waiting on someone who didn’t seem to remember him.


	50. Sunmi just wants to go home

To say Sunmi was regretting all the life decisions that brought her here, would be an understatement. She was already completely drained, wanted to go home and sleep until new year’s, drink a pool worth of wine and never accept suggestions like this ever again, and they didn’t even leave the clubroom yet. Today the chemistry club would be going on a field trip, they had been invited by a pharmaceutical company to visit their factory and see how real life chemists do their magic first hand. The kids were incredibly excited when the invitation arrived, and now that they were about to leave, Sunmi was really considering quitting right then and there.

The saving grace was that Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo were giddy but weirdly well behaved, maybe it was because they didn’t have to work together and just enjoy the trip. Regardless, it was creepy to see them not at each other’s throats, and Jihyo was suspiciously away from the other two, not enough to be noticeable, but the trained eye could spot it immediately. The teacher wasn’t complaining, if that meant her three biggest headaches weren’t going to act out, she was taking it. Once their transport arrived, she ushered the kids out, the company sent a bus to get them, and it seemed they got held up in traffic a little bit. 

The whole way to the lab was a repressed memory, all Sunmi could recall was curling up at the very front of the bus and praying to get there fast. Once they arrived, everyone was given a protection suit and gear, not that they would really be in contact with anything dangerous, but it helped get the kids in the mood, plus, it also helped prevent contamination of the areas they were going to visit. Everyone was happy, well, everyone who wasn't Sunmi, that is. A representative arrived and began their tour, a young lady who introduced herself as professor Yun, she took the students through the production line, answered questions and they arrived at an empty research lab where the kids were allowed to explore however they wanted.

Professor Yun explained this lab had been emptied in the past week, and now they were waiting for the next project, so the kids could touch anything their hearts desired. This was their last stop before lunch, and a scientist would arrive soon to talk a bit more with the students, this was Sunmi’s saving grace, all the kids were confined in a room where she didn’t have to worry about them breaking anything because their guide was the one who said they could do whatever. A tall man, then, entered the lab, he was interesting, tall, with a thin nose, full lips and tan skin, a thin goatee and thick glasses completing his looks. 

“Hello, kids. I’m doctor Minatozaki, it’s nice to meet you.” The man greets.

There is a chorus of ‘Hello dr Minatozaki’, the scientist chuckles and gestures for the kids to settle down before he speaks again.

“I heard professor Yun has already told you everything about this place and what we do here. So I’m here to answer questions and then take you to lunch.” He finishes with a chuckle.

The students get very excited, but dr Minatozaki manages them very well, it’s impressive, really, Sunmi is just glad she didn’t have to run after anybody. The conversation moved through lunch and soon after it was time for them to leave, most kids headed out, but her problem trio and a few others were still too engrossed with the scientist to have even heard her when she said they were leaving. Dr Minatozaki was also not paying attention to anything around them, and kept indulging the students to their hearts’ content. But they should get going if they wanted to get back to school on time, and Sunmi definitely needed to be there before the school day was over.

The ride back was worse, the teacher really needed that wine now, and a nice bubble bath, maybe she would go dancing tonight, who cares if it’s just wednesday, this field trip was absolutely not what she signed up for and she was definitely not being paid enough. They get back to the club room, Sunmi takes attendance and gives her students an essay about their visit and sends them home. She does notice how the problem trio is acting weird again, but it was not her problem and they never came to her about it, so she dashes to the teachers’ lounge to leave as soon as she can. But if this was Sunmi’s day, we wouldn’t be talking about it at all.

On the way out, ms Lee was stopped by the vice-principal asking her to report about her field trip. She just wanted to be out of there, but this wasn’t something she could get out of, so they went to the vice-principal’s office and Sunmi spent the next hour recounting her day, once she was about to leave, a call from dr Minatozaki came in and they began a conference call with the scientist about a future visit to the school to talk to the whole student body. By the time everything was said and done, it was already dark and Sunmi just wanted to crash in bed and sleep until the next week, so obviously, she was called by the janitor, asking her to accompany him to her club room, there was an acid spill and he needed her to deal with that before he could clean it up properly.

Once she had made sure the acid was properly handled and was able to actually be on her way home, Sunmi got a call from an old friend, inviting her to dinner claiming they hadn’t talked in too long and she was already out in town anyway. Reluctantly, the teacher made her way to the restaurant, the meet up quickly turned into third wheeling her friend the the husband, at least they were paying, so Sunmi ate and left as fast as she could. Nothing against her friend or the husband, but after such a tiring day, the last thing she needed was to be reminded of her non-existent love-life. Now, sure, she could have just gotten home and gone to bed, but today is absolutely NOT Lee Sunmi’s day.

Just as she was approaching her driveway, Sunmi saw her neighbor, mrs Kim, an old and grumpy woman who never really liked her and made sure everyone knew it. The old woman was standing in front of her house, looking like Sunmi had kicked one of her cats, with a young man next to her looking like he also didn’t want to be there. She stepped out of her car with her phone in hand and 112 already dialed and waiting, last time mrs Kim came by things went really bad really fast. The woman started screaming as soon as she saw Sunmi and nobody could understand a word that came out of her mouth. Sunmi didn’t waste a single second, she remained far enough from the woman and made sure to not move from her property and not lose sight of mrs Kim, a cruiser came soon enough, but all the other neighbors had already gathered around to watch, mostly to make sure Kim wouldn’t try to beat anyone, as she liked to do.

Turns out, the old woman had been convinced Sunmi was trying to seduce her grandson, the young man beside her, and had gone there to teach the ‘seductress’ a lesson about not trying to mess with her family, Sunmi got a restraining order against mrs Kim out of it, so it wasn’t so bad this time. Finally entering her house, our exhausted teacher thought she could take a nice, hot shower and just sleep, but she found out she forgot to close the windows when she left in the morning and entered her living room to find a raccoon and a grumpy looking cat playing tag inside her house, he couch had been destroyed and trash spread all over.

Sunmi took a deep breath, screamed for the animals to get the hell out of her house, which they did immediately, and proceeded to snap a picture of the room to send to the principal, asking to get the next day off. The principal complied and wished her luck on getting everything fixed, he had spotted the broken shelf before she had, honestly, Sunmi only noticed they had broken one of the shelfs when it quite literally collapsed, breaking the other shelf underneath it and all the things they contained. She walked to the window wordlessly, closed it and headed to her bedroom, having decided on ignoring the destruction in her house until the next morning.


	51. Okay, so mistakes were made

It was summer vacation, most were preparing to travel, others were looking for summer schools to dive a little deeper into their education, a few were looking for summer jobs, all usual teenage stuff. Jihyo had enrolled into a few extra classes but would be mainly spending his days working at the shelter, Tzuyu was going to be there too, but the tallest boy would be there for an official summer internship. Chaeyoung was going to travel with the Minatozakis and then would take Sana to his grandparents’ Jeju home, Seungwan was doing the same with the Baes. Sooyoung was busy with student council and planning the next semester for the football team, and Seulgi was helping as the vice-captain, Yerim had summer classes to try and raise his grades, so no vacation there.

Jeongyeon was part-timing at a bakery and taking a few classes as well, just so he could kill time while Tzuyu was at the shelter, and they had a camping trip scheduled to happen at some point. Mina and Nayeon had flown to Japan the night their classes ended, something about a huge family tradition both boys had to go through, it would have Nayeon leaving a desperate sounding text on their general group-chat saying he might be marrying Mina, if the broken japanese Nayeon managed to learn so far told him anything. Good times with the mafia, that is totally not the mafia and Mina will not have anyone saying it is.

Jihyo still hadn’t reached out to his boyfriend, were they even still dating? And Dahyun honestly wasn’t that motivated to make the first move, especially not with Seungwan and Joohyun looking over his shoulders like hawks and making sure he would not even consider making the first move. But it’s not like the former fighter had noticed it that much, sure he would remember Dahyun on cold nights when he remembered how they would usually cuddle. But the Baes decided to take a trip to Thailand, and they would land back in Jeju to drop the boys then only mr and mrs Bae would return to Seoul until summer break was just about to end.

Dahyun was glad, however, he could tune out Jihyo, and just have fun, be the little brother and let himself be pampered. Seungwan and Joohyun loved him dearly, and both had been nothing but the best support system ever, they would bake together, go work out together, study together, they made Dahyun the almost third person in their relationship, except from the intimate parts, the little brother was included. And it was great, the younger Bae got out of his slump, he got a few great paintings done, even got back to sculpting, and started looking better as time went by.

Dahyun was out to have a lot of fun, Jihyo heard about it from his mother, who made a comment to his father over dinner on how she would have less free time for a week because the Sons would be travelling and she would have to cover for mr Son because nobody else seemed to be able to harmonize wines as well as he did. Their conversation went on and, at some point, the information that Dahyun would be away all summer was thrown and Jihyo should have felt worse than he did at that moment. He thought it was a pity that he couldn’t see the pale boy, but then thought he could just call Daniel if he needed someone to hang out with, big mistake I know.

In Thailand, the boys met up with Lisa, she was also an art prodigy, she danced really well and sang like an angel, but her strong suit was photography, the girl had an eye to translate the scenery to a still image that very few rivaled. Dahyun had met her in a contest, he entered a painting and she entered a picture both tied in the end and the boy, very gentlemanly, stepped down to second and has been friends with Lisa ever since then. The girl was extremely excited when she heard about the trip, the artists talked often and the moment Lisa said she would be going home for summer, Dahyun told her he was visiting with his family and she demanded to guide them around and wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer.

Mama and Papa Bae immediately agreed when they heard the news, who better to take them around for a great time and uncover the local secrets than a local, after all. Lisa’s dad had prepared a table for them in his restaurant for the night they arrived (they got there in the morning and slept through the afternoon), Lisa’s mother was there as well and all the adults managed to get along really well. Joohyun met Lisa at the art club, in one of the times he had to go and drag his little brother home, mainly because the girl was rarely there, and Seungwan just charmed everyone who ever met him.

The next day was spent walking around downtown, Lisa guiding them to the hidden gems around, they would spend one more day in town before Lisa’s parents managed to get off work and then everyone would hop on a van and travel around the country. It was fun, Joohyun and Seungwan started prodding Dahyun about trying with Lisa, mr and mrs Bae also tried to figure out if their youngest was open to the possibility. Dahyun liked Lisa a lot, the girl had always been good to him and he tried his best to be the best he could be for her too, they were great friends and he believed he should always treat the ones dear to him as best as he could.

Jihyo, all the way back in Korea, occupied most of his time, and when he was free, he had been talking to Kang Daniel, Tzuyu stopped talking to him completely when he found out, all the other boys were busy with whatever else, so what was the problem with making a new friend? They did get very well acquainted, and it’s not like Jihyo was doing anything wrong, was it? Regardless, around the third day Dahyun had been in Thailand, Jihyo got a call from him, it had been weeks since they last talked and the pale boy reaching out was completely unexpected.

“Hello?” Jihyo answers hesitantly.

“Jihyo.” Dahyun’s tone is cold but calm.

“It’s been a while.” The older boy chuckles uneasy.

“I’ll be brief.” The younger Bae cuts in. “I believe we should end our relationship, well, officially end it. This hasn’t been working and we both can’t keep on like this. I can’t keep waiting and you clearly don’t want this anymore, so let’s just go our separate ways.”

“Alright.” That’s all Jihyo can manage.

“I can’t really keep being your friend right now, but I’m sure we’ll manage at some point.”

“Okay.” Jihyo’s voice is the smallest it has ever been.

“Good talking to you. Have a nice summer, Jihyo.” And Dahyun hangs up immediately after.

It was difficult for the younger boy to come to this decision, but if anything, this time away from Jihyo showed the older boy was fine without their relationship, Dahyun had been hanging on to something that was already gone, he was trying to keep a relationship that was over. These three days with Lisa cemented his decision to let go, he knew the girl fancied him and he had only never given her a chance because of Jihyo, but being treated so well by the girl felt nice, it was good to feel wanted after so long. Jihyo, however, was devastated, sure he knew he hadn't been the best boyfriend ever, but breaking up had never crossed his mind. What happened? Why did Dahyun call him for that? Couldn’t they have talked this over?

Come to think of it, this wasn’t completely unexpected, Jihyo knew he had messed up, everyone else told him he was messing up as it was happening. Hell, his best friends had whooped his ass as they warned him he was messing up. His own mother tried to talk to him and get into his head that he was losing his boyfriend and nothing worked, Jihyo had been too caught up on himself, he deemed that he didn’t need to keep making much effort towards his relationship. Talk about taking things for granted.

Dahyun had decided to give Lisa a chance, he wasn’t in a relationship anymore, it’s not like the people around him had been that subtle about their support, and this trip was as good time as any to talk to Lisa’s parents, he felt he needed to, at least, inform them of what was happening and his intentions towards their daughter. The opportunity came in the form of a stomach ache, Dahyun didn’t take well to a pho they had for lunch and started throwing up soon after. Lisa’s parents declared they would stay behind with the boy and sent Lisa to guide the others for the afternoon, mr Manoban was firm enough that nobody else argued.

The pale boy had just finished emptying his stomach when he plopped down on the couch, the two adults were watching tv on the other and this would be as good a time as any. So Dahyun got himself up, as well as he could, and waited a bit to see if his stomach would allow this conversation right now. When nothing got worse, the boy decided to speak up.

“Mr and mrs Manoban, I would like to talk to you.” The boy starts weakly.

“Are you sure you are okay be speaking right now?” Mr Manoban worried.

“I wanted to talk to you both alone, and this is as good a time as any.”

“Then we are listening.” Mrs Manoban mutes the tv.

“I know Lisa fancies me, but I’d like to tell you both about myself a little. Maybe that will clear why I’m acting the way I am.”

“Well, she did talk about you a lot, ever since that competition you have been mentioned every now and then.” Mr Manoban offers.

“Well, I’m not sure she told you, but I was in a relationship and I’m not the type to give hope where there is none. But I do consider Lisa a very close friend and I’m very fond of her.” Dahyun stops and groans a little. “Of course, she knew about it, I like to be very honest about my intentions.”

“She told me.” Mrs Manoban sighed. “She was a little down, but she did say you never tried to fool her about that.”

“Well, I’ve been having problems with my boyfriend for a while.”

“So you’re-” Mr Manoban looks surprised.

“Yes and no. I like both boys and girls.” Both adults nod in understanding. “Regardless, I broke up last night, called my boyfriend and told him I was tired. We hadn’t seen or talked to each other in weeks, he had been spending time with other people and I got tired of waiting for him.”

Mrs Manoban hands Dahyun some tea, to help with his stomach and they wait a little for the boy to speak again.

“I couldn’t have looked at Lisa like she wanted me to, I did have a boyfriend after all. But since I told her about this trip, she has been so sweet and attentive that it helped me rethink everything. She showed me how I should be treated and I liked it very much. So, I want to open up to her.”

“And I’m guessing you wanted to talk to us because you can’t guarantee you’ll return her feelings?” Mr Manoban understood immediately.

“Yes, but also, because I just broke up. I can’t promise when or even if Lisa and I will work out, and I wanted you both to know that I’m just not completely ready to just jump into a relationship at all. But I’ll always be honest with her and be the best person I can be to her.”

“That’s all we can ask, really.” Mrs Manoban soothes. “We understand you might not be ready at all to just jump into another relationship, and we can’t demand you return Lisa’s feelings, but if you promise to be honest and treat her well, then we can’t demand anything else.”

“I promise to do my best. And I’m sorry in advance if things don’t work out.”

Mr Manoban laughed at that. “We can’t be mad at you if it doesn’t work. But we’ll be here to support Lisa if things don’t work out, don’t worry.”

“Thanks mr and mrs Manoban.”

“Call us uncle and auntie.” Mr Manoban laughs again.

Dahyun excuses himself to take a nap and the couple go back to their tv show. When the others come back, they bring take out, mr Manoban manages some porridge for Dahyun and the boys go to their room early, Joohyun helping his brother shower and Seungwan helping him get dressed. They tuck in the younger Bae and Seungwan remembers to place a bucket beside his bed just in case. Lisa does go to her room after she is done with the dishes (she was scheduled to take care of them with the sick boy) and the adults talk a little about the conversation between Dahyun and the Manobans.


	52. Chaeyoung goes to Osaka

So, summer break was here and it’s not like Chaeyoung hadn’t met Sana’s parents, but this is grandma Minatozaki we are talking about. The woman meant a lot to Sana, this was the person Chaeyoung HAD to impress, and they were going to visit the woman and spend two weeks there. To say our little beast was terrified would be an understatement, but here he was, the last day of classes, mr Son had dropped his suitcase at the Minatozakis the previous evening, as he couldn’t drive his son today and mrs Son drove a smart. Seungwan had tagged along to bring his luggage to the Baes, both were leaving that evening, though Chaeyoung and the Minatozakis would be going earlier.

The Sons had decided to have lunch together as a farewell, so the boys got out of class early, then papa Son hugged his boys tightly as his wife called a cab, Chaeyoung had time for a quick shower before his mom drove him to his boyfriend’s place. Now, it’s not like this was the first time that Chaeyoung would be sleeping over at Sana’s house, but it was their first trip together, and mama Son was slightly worried about her kid, he was a good kid, but his nerves never failed to get the best of him. The parents had met about a week after the boys started dating, mr Son asked mama Park for the chef’s table and, when the woman understood the reason, she was so excited that she even served them herself (it caused a few problems at the kitchen, but she didn’t care).

The adults liked each other a lot, and both sides took the chance to learn as much as they could about each other, this trip to Japan was something the adults discussed and agreed upon before mrs Minatozaki even mentioned it to Sana. Chaeyoung was in good hands and his parents liked the idea of the boy going away and being allowed to forget he was supposed to be subject to aunt Naeun’s poison for the rest of the vacation, at least the Baes would be there too and Dahyun surely knew how and when to disappear with his best friend when needed.

Now, when they got to the Minatozakis, the family was already waiting for them by the front porch, the bags already on the sidewalk and waiting for the cab that would be taking them to the airport. Mrs Son parks and goes to greet everyone, then be a little melodramatic about her baby going away, to which Chaeyoung whines and everyone else laughs heartily. Chaeyoung checks if he got everything, his passport safely in his backpack and snacks ready to go, Sana finds it adorable that the smaller boy thought about snacks for everyone, unneeded, but still incredibly charming. They hadn’t told Chaeyoung they were taking the family private jet, or that they were the kind of family to own a private jet. It was Sana’s idea to keep surprising his boyfriend at each step, and everyone agreed as long as he took full responsibility.

The taxi arrives not too long after, one of those big ones, and they leave, mrs Son goes back home to urge Seungwan to get ready so she can take him to the Baes. She knew her kids, and her eldest was definitely stalling somewhere around the house, Seungwan was the clingy one, he would always linger and buy as much time as he could. It was sweet, but in times like these, when he should have already showered and changed to wait for his mother to pick him up. Instead, we have Son Seungwan taking a tray of fresh baked cookies out of the oven, he got stressed while waiting and started baking, sure, he made too much cookie batter and had to freeze two thirds of it, and he had cleaned up while waiting, but now he thinks he shouldn’t because he had nothing else to stall with.

Mrs Son arrives and marches to the kitchen, she knew something like this would happen and time was running out. Seungwan looks startled by his mother, but that doesn’t stop the woman.

“You. Shower. Now.” She punctuates each word firmly.

Seungwan looks about to protest, but his mother beats him to it.

“We are almost out of time, you have about twenty minutes to be ready to leave, so quick shower. Move!”

The boy stomps his feet a little but moves anyways. While all that was happening, Chaeyoung and the Minatozakis arrive at the airport, the younger boy starts heading to the counters, noticing he was walking alone, he turns to see mr and mrs Minatozaki looking very amused and Sana struggling to hold his giggles. The baby beast stomps towards his boyfriend, he knew he was being made fun of, just didn’t know how.

“What?” Chaeyoung hisses.

“You were walking on your own, we were wondering where you were heading.” Sana says with mirth.

“To check the bags? You know, like a normal person.”

“But we never told you how we were going?”

“Sana, I love you, but this is getting annoying. All the international counters are in the same area, no matter which one we are taking, they will all be in the same place.”

“Sacchan, enough.” Mama Minatozaki intervenes. “Chaengie, we are boarding from another gate. We are taking a private jet.”

At the sight of the stunned boy, the adults laugh and Sana giggles, it was such an honest surprise that they couldn’t help but find it completely endearing, and that was when they understood why Sana insisted on keeping things secret. The trip was fairly quick, their take off get delayed about five minutes, and their landing was on schedule, so no delays there, the other surprise came once the doors opened, there was an immigration agent waiting for them out there, who stamped Chaeyoung’s passport and checked the Minatozakis’, then they enter a car that had been waiting for them and they set off. Everything felt like a fever dream for Chaeyoung, just who were these people and where was the hippie family he was supposed to be travelling with?

The thing about the Yamaguchi estate was that it was technically Osaka, but it was so far out there that one could barely consider it still within the city. Yes, they would visit the Minatozakis later, and they definitely lived closer to civilization, but first, traditions demanded, they would be staying at the Yamaguchi estate for the first week. The further away from the city they got, the less Chaeyoung was amazed at everything, sure, he was riding a luxury car, was this a limousine, and they had flown in a private jet, but he was getting tired and the drive was long, and Sana’s grassy scent was too calming and his hug too comfortable, so the younger boy couldn’t do anything other than sleep, really.

Sana chuckles but holds his boyfriend tighter, they would be having a hectic arrival, it’s best if Chaeyoung gets as much rest as he can. Plus, they would have the worst day tomorrow, the entire family would be around and many introductions would be made, and a lot of ceremonies had to be performed, and it’s already draining for those used to it, Sana could only imagine how tired Chaeyoung will be by tomorrow night. Then the boy engages in some hushed conversations with his parents as they get further away from the city. Not to mention, they intended to visit Mina and Nayeon at some point, that would take at least three days, so all the ‘official’ businesses had to be taken care of right away.

Arriving, there was the usual line of employees waiting for them, Sana woke Chaeyoung up gently, then handed the boy a mirror, some wipes and a comb to fix himself, the younger one wondered a little, but the japanese pointed out and he saw the sheer number of people just outside and quickly moved, popping a mint strip when he was done. Sana chuckles lovingly, his parents were also endeared by the younger boy and his thoughtfulness, especially when the baby beast got his travel perfume and sprayed a little on himself, claiming he smelled sweaty already. He didn’t, but it was a nice gesture regardless. Or maybe Sana was biased, but still.

Mr and mrs Minatozaki are the first ones out, they take a few steps and wait for the boys, then Sana pulls Chaeyoung along and stand behind his parents, everyone who had been waiting for them bows and scream what the younger boys thinks is a greeting and keep their heads down until they pass. They go through the front gates and arrive at an old japanese mansion, one that puts those you see in movies to shame, and boy, was Chaeyoung even more mesmerized. The younger boy lets himself be guided to wherever they were heading, he was busy taking in the scenery, so busy he doesn’t even notice they’ve arrived in front of a very imponent door.

“Take off your shoes, love.” Sana whispers in a giggle.

Chaeyoung does and looks for more instructions, the japanese boy could have played around a bit more, but he knows this was absolutely not the time for jokes, so he proceeds with more information.

“Just stick by my side, I’ll guide you to where you should stand. Don’t do anything you are not told to do and absolutely do not speak if you are not spoken to.” The taller boy notes his boyfriend is about to protest and cuts in. “I’m serious, Chaeng, keep silent if nobody spoke to you. I’ll answer all your questions later, but do not speak unprompted here.”

Chaeyoung is still a little doubtful, he holds Sana’s hand regardless, when the doors open, there are more people inside, it’s a long room, definitely intimidating, any rebellious feeling our baby beast had about what Sana said vanished in an instant, at the very end of the room sat a couple. The man showed his graying hair in a dark blue kimono, his posture screamed power and his aura commanded obedience, the woman, not looking a day under thirty, was mrs Minatozaki’s more powerful version, in that way when you look at someone and is certain they could kill you in the middle of a public square and sit there laughing and nothing will happen, she had a beautiful black kimono with red flowers that complimented her white skin perfectly. 

Now Chaeyoung knows why Sana told him to wear his best suit, but even his best suit felt underdressing at this moment, maybe he should have rented a tux, this wasn’t that good. And these pink socks, what was he thinking, who even wears pink socks to something like this. To be fair, Sana never told him much, he should have, but didn’t.

“This is why I never told you much.” Sana whispers. “You look lovely, just trust me.”

“If you told me, I’d have bought a new and nicer suit.” Chaeyoung hisses. “And I’m wearing pink socks, there’s no way anybody here is not seeing this.”

“Breathe, love.” Sana squeezes the hand he was holding a little. “You are amazing and we all love you very much. Now, breathe for me, darling.”

Chaeyoung tries, but his breathing exercises get less effective the closer he walks to the couple waiting for them. Sana places his boyfriend just half a step behind himself and both behind his parents (mr Minatozaki was also half a step behind his wife), he pulls Chaeyoung to kneel, thankfully the boy understands and follows perfectly, then they stay in a formal bow until they are allowed to rise. All of this was just for traditions’ sake, the Yamaguchi had always put on a show whenever members of the main family arrived, and all these people in the room were here to witness it. 

“Welcome.” The old man spoke up.

That was the cue, they rose from the formal bow (you know, those ones they pretty much lay themselves on the ground) and sat on their heels. Sana brushes his hand on Chaeyoung’s arm to tell him he’s doing fine, but the action lasts just enough, not a second longer. 

“Sayako, my daughter, it’s good to see you are well.” Grandma Yamaguchi stands and motions for mrs Minatozaki to go to her.

Mama Minatozaki does as she’s told, gets up from the floor and walks to her parents, she kisses their hands and bows again, only raising her head when her mother guides her to. Chaeyoung was beginning to think he might have got himself dating the japanese mafia’s heir, nothing confirmed, but it was a gut feeling and his gut feelings were usually right. 

“We should eat, you all had a long journey.” Grandpa Yamaguchi declared.

The room clears out fairly quickly, once the head of the family decides something, nobody dares to question and immediately moves to do as told. Chaeyoung thought he should follow, but Sana senses the movement and holds his arm, pushing him back down. The younger boy looks to his left and sees his boyfriend slightly shake his head, so he stays put. Once they are left alone, the entire family’s demeanor changes, grandpa and grandma Yamaguchi look like actual grandparents and mama and papa Minatozaki are back to their usual cheery self. Sana moves to hug his grandparents, they are all very smiley, but Chaeyoung is so fearful that he holds his position and tries to move as little as possible.

“Sacchan, are you going to introduce us to that handsome boy over there?” Grandma asks.

“We were excited to meet him when you told us he was coming.” Grandpa adds.

“Okay, but please be calm with him, Chae has a lot of anxiety.” Sana asks reluctantly.

“We can see that from here, hun.” Grandma notes. “Just go get him, the poor thing hasn’t moved since you told him not to follow the others out.”

“Oh, you saw that.”

“We have been watching him since he came through the door.” Grandpa chuckles. “Just help him out over there, he’s gonna stop feeling his legs.”

Sana, then, moves back to where Chaeyoung was still sitting, the younger boy seemed to be already having a breakdown, he was sweating and very stiff, even flinched a little when the japanese touched him. It was always heartbreaking, to see how damaged Chaeyoung’s self was, the boy was the loveliest thing Sana had ever seen, he treated him like a king and never asked for a single thing in return. Chaeyoung relaxes a little when he feels arms around him, offering safety and comfort, then he allows himself to be guided to where grandma and grandpa Yamaguchi were waiting.

“Ni-ni-ni-” Chaeyoung tries, stops and takes a breath. “Ni-nice to-to mee-meet you. I’m I’m I’m Son Chae-chaeyoung.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sacchan has been talking a lot about you.” Grandma Yamaguchi greets softly.

“I’m Yamaguchi Shinzaburou, this is my wife, Yuko.” Grandpa Yamaguchi slings an arm around the boy’s shoulder. “We are very happy to have you here, and we hope you are ready to be spoiled rotten, because we have been waiting for years for Sana to bring someone over and now we are definitely taking full advantage of it!”

This boss man was definitely more grandpa-er (ish?) than Chaeyoung expected, grandma Yamaguchi was also very nice, maybe this won’t be that bad afterall. Mr and mrs Minatozaki are relieved when they see the boy relax a little, but still worried about how this trip will go from here on. They, finally, move to the dining room, where the guests were already sitting and waiting for them, grandma and grandpa sit at the head of the table, mrs and mr Minatozaki to his right, Sana and Chaeyoung to his left. It’s very noisy and the little cub just entertains himself with eating, hoping he would be left alone. It’s long, but when the young couple finally find themselves alone in their bedroom, the younger boy relaxes.

“You wanna shower first?” Sana offers while he’s digging through his suitcase.

“Is there a bathtub?” Chaeyoung asks, checking if he got everything.

“Well, yeah.” 

“Can we take a bath? It would really help me relax, and you know I can’t sleep if I’m this nervous.”

“Sure we can.” Sana agrees promptly. “I’ll get the bath going and you find us some good music.”

The taller boy passes his boyfriend with a kiss on the head and heads out to fix them a nice bath, Sana felt a bit guilty for not warning his boyfriend about the formalities, or what his mother’s family was exactly, but now was already too late and he just had to roll with it. Sana comes back to Chaeyoung sitting cutely in his boxers and waiting for him, it was so cute he had to squeal and tackle the younger boy for a tight hug. They moved to the bathroom, and the japanese just HAD to make it a show of undressing himself, the smaller boy just hurried to the bathtub and hoped he could control his hormones.

It’s not like they hadn’t had intimate moments, they had been dating for a few months now, but Chaeyoung is extremely shy and anxious about these moments, he thought he shouldn’t let his body have the natural reactions it did, Sana had been trying to assure him it was alright, and his therapist was also working on helping him get over this blockage. Sana, on the other hand, never shied away when he got, well, horny, especially when he was with Chaeyoung, he wanted his boyfriend to relax with him, to show him everything because Sana would take it gladly. But this is Son Chaeyoung, it’s already great that they could share baths, the bed and change in front of each other already.

“What are you thinking about?” Chaeyoung asks after a small silence.

“You.” The japanese answers simply, hugging his boyfriend closer.

“Charming.” The smaller boy chuckles.

“I’m serious. I was thinking that I should have told you more about my mom’s family, and how we are going to go and visit Mina in three days and go through all of this theatre again.” Sana sighs. “But mostly, I was thinking about how much I love you.”

“I love you too, Sacchan.” Chaeyoung takes a stabilizing breath and continues. “But I’m sorry.”

“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about.” A kiss on the shoulder.

Chaeyoung nods and there is another pause, he thinks this would be as good time as any to bring this up.

“Sana?”

“Hmmm?”

“Are you sure you are okay with us sharing the bed?”

“And why would I not be?”

“I mean, I may have some improper accidents and make you uncomfortable, an-”

“Chaengie, I want all of you.” This was one of the rare times Sana was extremely serious. “I know it’s not easy for you to just let yourself go, but I’m here, and I want to be here with you.”

“Okay” Chaeyoung’s voice is tiny, he knew this was the answer he was getting, but it was still a bit overwhelming to hear it.

The older boy decides it’s enough and moves both of them out of the shower, whenever the small cub is in one of these moods, the best thing to do was get him in comfy pajamas and cuddle until morning. Still, getting out of the bath and dressed was another challenge for the shy boy, Sana had a beautiful body and Chaeyoung was only a teenager, he couldn’t deny how attracted he was to his boyfriend. What he could do, however, was get his towel and speed walking out of there to find his boxers and hope Sana doesn’t notice (he did and loved it).


	53. How Nayeon got upset

Alright, the Myouis being very well off was common knowledge, just how far their richness goes was something very few knew, and those who did didn’t really mind it. But what even fewer knew was that they were very old money back in Japan, old like back a few dynasties, and families like that had an extensive list of protocols they had to follow, and those were just so dull and draining that most just went through everything with their brain shut down. And that was exactly why Im Nayeon found himself in a lot of trouble.

It happened because one of Mina’s uncles (the boy had no idea if it was really an uncle) was asking him something about his relationship with the young master, to which Nayeon started answering whatever because his japanese was still rather limited and these people spoke with a heavy accent. Mina had been teaching him since they started dating, and the older boy might be a chemistry genius, but he was definitely not gifted in languages, but progress was being made and Nayeon was trying and that is what matters most.

It was during breakfast on the second day of their visit that grandpa Myoui said something about a party and mentioned Nayeon and Mina’s names, the korean boy was honestly trying to communicate but it was just so hard for him, everyone appreciated his efforts, however. Mina also didn’t help much, saying it was just his grandfather and the old man loved throwing parties, this was just another reason for him to get drunk and show grandma around, bragging about how beautiful his wife was and how he got lucky she accepted to marry him. Corny, maybe, but grandpa Myoui never once failed to do it every single time, reason why most people avoided him when they saw him getting tipsy.

After the announcement things moves fast, Nayeon saw himself being manhandled through preparations, Mina laughing each time it happened, and then he was standing in front of Japan’s crème de la crème, wearing a suspiciously intricate kimono, with Mina in a matching one and, if possible, even more intricate, the entire Myoui family sitting in a fixed order, with the two boys in the center. If this was not raising enough alarm bells, I don’t know what to tell Nayeon. A lot of people made speeches, then there was a monk doing a ceremony, and then everyone came around speaking animatedly and throwing happy sounding sentences to the young couple. Mina was absolutely entertained by all of it, and Nayeon really wanted to strangle him, maybe not a good idea at the moment.

It felt like weeks to the older boy until he could, finally, stand up and stretch his legs. Koreans always had a harder time than the japanese sitting on their knees, and Nayeon never understood how that went from punishment to formal posture. Regardless, they were allowed to stand and roam around for a while before dinner, our bunny makes a mad dash to the bathroom, all that tea the monk gave them had been begging to come out for over an hour now, the fact that he had lost sensation on his legs and was mostly stumbling down the hall got Mina heading to the bathroom himself. Fun times.

The celebrations went on through the next day, but the boys were pulled into another part of the monk’s rituals where their family guided them to Mina’s bedroom (Nayeon had been staying in a guest room), they receive a few trinkets from the grandparents, mrs Myoui’s family had also come to attend the party, then some sort of cloth from mrs Myoui and a small pillow from mr Myoui and then they are locked in the room. It seems this was all planned, as the breakfast table had been filled with food and drinks, and the sheets had petals on it. Okay, this was definitely a marriage, and even if Nayeon was certain he never signed anything, he was sure these people didn’t care much about that, and he also didn’t remember most of his day.

“Are you going to move on your own at some point?” Mina asks as he begins to get out of his kimono.

“I- What?” Nayeon still doesn’t move.

“I’m asking if you are alright, hun.” The japanese boy is much softer now, slightly worried even. “You’ve been looking overwhelmed all day.”

“Because I have been!” The resident bunny whines. “I have no idea what’s going on, you don’t help, there is all these people who look like they could buy my entire life with lunch money talking to me, your other grandparents arrived and I didn’t even greet them, I’m wearing this thing which I’m sure costs more than I’ll ever earn my entire life, so I can’t really move and risk ruining it, an-”

“Breathe, love.” Mina decides to stop the rambling. “My grandparents got here minutes before the party started, you don’t have to stress over it, they’ll be here tomorrow for you to greet them. Now, let me help you out of that thing.”

“Mr Myoui, aren’t you being too risky, now?” Nayeon jokes, his go-to deflection.

“Yeonnie, you can’t possibly get out of that alone, most of it is tied behind your back and I know for sure that you don’t stretch that far.” The younger boy shakes his head. “Now be a good boy and come here, let me get you out of that so you have one less thing to panic about.”

Mina pulls his boyfriend to the hangers in the corner of the room, those things looked ancient, very expensive and incredibly frail, and Nayeon absolutely didn’t want to touch them. Once the whole parafernalia is off, both boys feel how much colder the room actually was and turn the A/C back up, and the penguin guides them to the bathroom. He loved Nayeon, but sweaty teenage boy wasn’t exactly something he wanted to smell during his sleep. The bathtub proves the older boy’s suspicions, a bath had already been drawn and the lavender bath bomb had already filled the room with the smell, and there were little flowers in there too, not to mention the classical background music.

They settle into the warm water, Mina always liked being the one being hugged during showers, but was definitely the big spoon whenever they were sleeping. Nayeon can’t ever keep his mouth shut, however.

“Minnie?”

“Hmm?”

“Did we just get married today?”

“Is that what you think happened?”

“That’s what it looked like it happened.”

Mina giggles and cuddles closer.

“Are you gonna answer me at some point?”

“We didn’t get married today, Yeonnie. If we did, your family would be here too.”

“Yeah, I was wondering where they were.”

“But we got somewhat married, tho.”

“What?” 

“This ceremony today, the monk did some sort of engagement thing? I don’t know, grandpa is the one who likes this old stuff. But it’s like our souls get tied to each other forever.”

“And you only think of telling me this now?”

“You are saying you don’t want to be with me?”

“I’m saying I should be consulted in these things, I’m as much part of this relationship as you are, and I never got the chance to say anything about that.”

Nayeon is frustrated, he gets up from the tub and grabs a towel on his way out, not even bothering if he is wetting the whole floor. He was right, though, nobody asked him what his opinion was on his own relationship and not even his boyfriend, who was supposed to be in this with him, talked to him about this whole show imposed upon him. Mina was left in the bath, gritting his teeth and fuming, not at Nayeon, at all, but at everyone else including himself. How did the japanese boy ever think this wasn’t the outcome when Nayeon found out, but grandpa Myoui was always pushy and his grandson grew up giving in to his whims.

Now, Nayeon was betrayed, sure, he never thought about breaking up with Mina, but this was pushing things too far, they were just kids, getting them engaged like this, and Mina going along with it all made him want to jump on the first plane home. Sure enough, he started packing up, intended to be at the airport in the morning and headed back home as soon as possible. The boy was so irritated that he started crying, mostly from anger and being crossed like that, shoving everything into his bag and tripping over his own feet. While all this was happening, Mina was holding a pity party in the bathroom, thinking he had to do something to get his boy to calm down so they could talk.

When Mina did get out of the bathroom, he was met with bags already packed by the bedroom door, the room was a mess, things thrown everywhere, but what worried him the most, was Nayeon curled up into a ball at the edge of the sofa, the big penguin plushie right beside him, making sure Mina couldn’t get close, the comforter thrown over him not showing anything underneath. All that could be heard were the sniffles, there was a clear trembling to the body under the comforter, and the worry skyrocketed. It was never good when Nayeon cried, he was one of the most positive people Mina knew, always trying to not allow himself to be pushed down nor shaken by anything.

This Nayeon, curled up, crying, betrayed, irritated, was something Mina hoped he would never see, and it was all his fault. Well, not all of it, his grandfather was also to blame for even thinking about something like this, and his family for going along, but the heavier burden was on him, he should have put a stop to it as soon as it left his grandfather’s lips. But Mina was a coward when it came to standing up to his family, he always gave in, and now was the time to fix this mess. He was the one who let it happen and kept silent when all Nayeon asked was to know what was happening, he knew his family was using a heavier accent on purpose, fully aware the older boy wouldn’t understand, and grandpa Myoui demanded he kept quiet and now this was the price.


	54. Mina does something

Alright, so things are bad. Mina has been trying to coax Nayeon to talk to him for the last hour or so, but the older boy showed no signs of even hearing him. Now, Mina had gone on a long tangent apologizing, begging for Nayeon to talk to him, kneeling on the ground and crying pathetically, anything someone truly sorry for their actions would do, but nothing came of it. Nayeon did hear everything and accepted the apology, but was still mad about everything, he just wanted to go home and let his parents hold him tight.

It’s not that the older boy wanted to break up over this, he really just didn’t want to be here anymore. This was the time where Mina should make a decision, he could keep as he was and his boyfriend would certainly be on the first plane out, or he could do something about it. There was really only one choice, so the japanese boy got himself together, fixed himself in the bathroom, gritted his teeth and marched to where he knew his family would still be drinking at, despite the party being over for a while already. Once Mina reached the door and heard the loud voices behind it, he needed a moment to take a deep breath and remind himself he had to do this.

Mina knocked, not that he needed to, and entered the room, the adults were surprised to see him there, they thought he would still be having fun with Nayeon at this time, and the grimm look on his face told them he had something serious to talk about. They all sat down when the boy motioned them to and waited, he always needed a little time to gather his words before speaking up. Mama Myoui fidget a little, but her husband put a hand on her shoulder to tell her to just wait, he had enough conversations with his son to know the more serious the subject, the longer Mina will take to actually say something. The grandparents saw the interaction and decided to remain quiet as well.

“Tonight was a mistake I should never have allowed to happen.” Mina blurts out. “Look, grandpa, I know you like your parties and everything, but tonight was too much. I knew it was too much and still did nothing.”

“Mina, honey, breathe a little.” Mama Myoui tries to get her son to calm down.

“Mother, please, I can’t calm down! Nayeon is understandably upset about all of this and not being consulted on anything, and he wants to go back to Korea first thing in the morning. I’m angry at myself for not speaking up and stopping this from happening when I knew it was something he did not want to do, much less be forced into.”

“What do you mean Nayeon is leaving?” Grandpa Myoui sits a little straighter. “Just because of a little party? Isn’t he being too sensitive?”

“This was an engagement party, what are you talking about?” Grandpa Jimmu (mama Myoui’s father) was always the most sensible one.

“And I don’t get what all this drama is about.” The old man insists.

“You have always been an idiot, sometimes I forget how dumb you can be.”

“Kenzaburou, that’s enough.” Grandma Myoui stopped her husband when he was about to throw a tantrum. “Akihito is right and you are just being a spoilt child again.”

The woman’s tone left no room for arguments, she was taking no bullshit and everyone understood that. Grandma Myoui had also been against this plan of her husband, not only it was far too soon for the boys to be thinking about marriage or even engagement, but to not even tell Nayeon about what was being planned, how the old man was about to meddle with his life just because he was bored, that was too much. Now, grandma Myoui saw she, too, should have stopped this before it happened, but she didn’t think things would have escalated like they did, when she did notice, it had been too late.

“Nayeon should have been asked, and we don’t have any right to do this to the boys at all!” The woman continued. “Now, Mina is going to go in there and try to get his boyfriend to stay, and you are going to do everything to get Nayeon to forgive us for allowing you to be selfish again.”

Grandpa Myoui grumbles something that sounds suspiciously like a complaint but doesn’t really say anything aloud. Grandma Jimmu gets up and hugs the boy, she was always the most attuned to Mina’s moods, then pushes him to her husband and so on until he had hugged everyone, then sends her grandson back to his room, not forgetting to tell Mina to get something nice for himself and Nayeon to eat after they talk. Mama Myoui did say they had a full table of food in there already, but the older woman said it’s best if Mina takes the time to get something himself, and so they send him off.

“Well, that went horribly.” Papa Myoui says when the door closes.

“You could say that again.” Mama Myoui agrees.

Grandpa Myoui is still grumbling but nobody really pays attention to him anymore. 

“We have to keep in mind that Nayeon isn’t like us, he isn’t used to these flashy events and his family doesn’t decide his life for him.” Papa Myoui continues. “I’m with mom in this, you were being too selfish, dad. And now my other son is sad and wants to leave because of it.”

“Your other son?” Grandpa Jimmu raises an eyebrow.

“I see Nayeon as my own son too. Sure, he is Mina’s boyfriend, but he is such a good kid, and he is just so good to Mina. We love him very much, and having him be so upset he wants to leave really breaks my heart.” Mama Myoui concludes.

Mina went to the kitchen to make his boyfriend his favorite, grilled cheese, mushroom soup and green tea, Nayeon was a simple man, and grilled cheese with tomato soup was the first thing he learned to make by himself. Back then it was just putting the sandwich on the grilling machine, then taking the can of soup, dumping it on a bowl and putting in the microwave, but it was a nice meal and he was very proud of himself for doing it on his own. Nine year-old Nayeon decided it would be his comfort meal and has found himself comforted by it ever since. 

It was easy to make, and Mina did put in more effort and added some green onions and garlic to the soup, he also got the good cheese for the sandwich, the one grandpa Myoui hid away to eat with his wines. If he was going to be begging for his boyfriend to talk to him and, hopefully, work things out, he needed to go all out. Getting back to his bedroom, Mina found Nayeon still on the couch, he looked calmer, at least he wasn’t crying, the japanese boy placed the tray on the coffee table, and sat beside his boyfriend in silence. Mina was nervous, so he decided to take the food out of the tray and took his own soup bowl and started eating, mostly to have something to do.

Nayeon was hungry, he wasn’t about to lie to himself about that, and it was mushroom soup and grilled cheese, and Mina was the one who made it for him. He was still upset, but this was a nice gesture, so he reached for his bowl and a slice of the sandwich to dip in the soup. It tasted really nice, just the way he liked it, and the fact that Mina knew how to get it just right brought a knot to his throat. Despite everything, Nayeon loved Mina with all his heart, and Mina loved him just as much, they could get through this, it was just a mistake and Mina was fully prepared to do all the work to get there.

“This is nice.” Nayeon says, almost in a whisper.

“I thought you’d like something comforting.” Mina tries to hold his happiness at that simple phrase. “I’m sorry.”

“Hmm”

“I know I messed up bad, and you have all the right to be angry, but I really am sorry. I should have stopped grandpa, or talked to you about it, but I didn’t and I hope you can forgive me for that.”

“I accept your apology.” The older boy declares. “But I don’t forgive you yet, any of you. This relationship is between you and me, Myoui Mina and Im Nayeon, and you let them play with it as they pleased.”

“I know.”

“And you knew all of this was happening, you also knew I don’t understand when you talk in dialect. But still, you said nothing, not even when I asked you about it.”

“I’m very sorry for that. It won’t happen again.”

“I called my mom when you were out, she said I can go home whenever I want, and that her and dad will pay a visit later to talk to you and your parents.” Mina’s head snaps up, being caught by surprise. “Give me a reason to stay, Mina.”

There are a few silent seconds that feel like hours, Nayeon searches hopefully deep into Mina’s eyes for something that will make him stay. Anything that won’t have him flying back to Korea and not talking to his boyfriend until the Myouis are back. Mina, obviously, doesn’t disappoint, all he was being asked was honesty, it was time for him to face his mistakes and begin owning up to them.

“I love you so much, and this was a huge mistake I allowed to happen.” The japanese boy takes a deep breath. “I would like for you to allow me to show you how sorry I am and how much you mean to me. Please, don’t go. We’ll go to grandma and grandpa Jimmu house and stay there, no more Myoui palace and this high society circus, just you and me and a relaxing vacation in japan.”

“You promise?”

“I promise. We’ll go there and do whatever you want to do, and not a single high society mention for the rest of this vacation.”

“Can we go visit Sana and Chaeng too?” Nayeon asks so humbly that Mina can’t deny him anything (not that he would ever).

“Of course we can!” Mina agrees promptly. “But I gotta say, Sana’s family is quite something, maybe we should wait for them to go to the Minatozakis before we visit them.”

“How so?”

“They are with Sana’s mom family, they are the Yamaguchis, too rich, too ancient, too powerful. Even I get uncomfortable there, we should wait the week and visit them at his other grandparents, the Minatozakis. They live in a big house in town, and it’s much more comfortable.”

“Okay.” Nayeon’s voice is so small that his boyfriend would have missed it if he wasn’t paying attention.

“Okay?”

“I’ll give you a chance, but I’ll be on the first plane back to Seoul if you mess up again.”

“I’ll take you to the airport myself. But I promise you won’t.”

“And we leave here tomorrow morning. I don’t really want to be here anymore.”

“I’ll pack up right now.”

“And you deal with your family. I just want to eat, take a warm shower and sleep. Also, I need some aspirins.”

“There’s a pack of them in the bathroom cabinet. And I’ll talk to them, just go and take your shower and don’t worry about anything else.”

Nayeon hums in agreement and continues eating his food, it was very tasty and he really didn’t want anything that had been prepared for them, and Mina making this simple, yet personal and heartwarming, food was just what he needed. Mina ushers him to take a shower and reminds his boyfriend about the aspirins, before taking their dishes back to the kitchen and going to talk to his family about what was decided. His parents had already retired to their bedroom, and the boy headed there first, then he went back to the drinking room and told his grandparents about heading out first thing in the morning.

Grandpa Myoui wanted to protest, but withered with everyone else’s stares. Grandpa Jimmu said they would leave in the morning and he would be driving the boys himself, despite the plan being that they would stay for a couple of days. Mina left right after, saying he wanted to take a shower and some aspirin after the day’s events and just sleep. When he got back, Nayeon was changing, he announced he would take a quick shower and found his boyfriend waiting for him when he got out.


	55. Chaeyoung meets the Minatozakis

Staying with a rich japanese family was… interesting, as Chaeyoung would put it, grandma and grandpa Yamaguchi were obviously influential people and held a lot of power, but they were both surprisingly doting and enjoyed spoiling their grandson rotten, now Chaeyoung too, by extension. They were supposed to have gone to visit Mina and Nayeon, but the younger japanese had called and asked to change plans a little, and now they would be meeting once the squirrel and the cub went to the Minatozaki household.

After the first couple of days where Chaeyoung was getting over his extreme shyness, things got easier. It was the first time our little one was sleeping in the same bed as his boyfriend, and to spend so much time together, going on dates or simple walks through the gardens, it was all too heartwarming. Grandma Yamaguchi would make them eat until they had to pop open their pants because she claimed the boys were too skinny and that Chaeyoung needed to eat more so he could grow tall and strong, didn’t matter that the boy had shown them photos of his family and explained he could really grow that much because his parents were short and he was already taller than his older brother.

Grandpa Yamaguchi said he was going to teach the boys how to be real men, since they were together now and show the boys how to treat their lovers right. The old man would disappear with the boys for hours on end, everyone was very curious about what they did together, but none of them would budge. In truth, the old man would take them to dance lessons, get some proper suits for both of them, then he would teach them about flowers and what they represent, how to conduct a proper tea ceremony, about traditional sweets and how to harmonize them with each tea. You know, how old traditional japanese men showed their skills to impress their partners, and then teach them about how he would take grandma Yamaguchi on dates and what he did to woo her.

Sana was more familiar with the reasons why his grandfather was teaching them all that, and Chaeyoung just had an old soul that loved these traditional and showy things, he called it vintage, Sana says it was just because his boyfriend was a hipster wannabe. All in all, they were proper japanese gentlemen when the time came to go visit the other grandparents. Grandpa and grandma Yamaguchi absolutely refused to let the boys go, they had to promise they would come back on the next holidays, but the old man said he would be going to Korea with his wife before that, there was no way he was getting separated from his boys for that long, grandma agreed and then they were off.

Mama Minatozaki complained the entire time about how she was their daughter and they had blown her off to play with the boys, papa Minatozaki just laughed and did his best to appease his wife, trying to explain that it was normal and his parents were about to do the same when they got there. The Minatozakis lived in a suburban area, a big house with a large porch and larger backyard, sure, it wasn’t a palace like the Yamaguchi, but it was a big house. The neighborhood was very peaceful, most of the residents were retired and sought out the place for it’s tranquility. What was particular about the Minatozaki place was the herbal smell that would always linger around the property.

It seems like the love for natural self care products was a Minatozaki family thing after all, grandma Minatozaki made her own soap and hair products, all in her mini laboratory in the backyard. Grandpa Minatozaki had built her a small shed in a corner of the property so he could have his garage back and she could keep doing her experiments to her heart’s content. It was fine during summer, but he really wanted to avoid having to scrape his windows during the snow months, so he really just wanted to park under a roof. They worked well together, and it was clear that papa Minatozaki grew up as a mama’s boy, not to mention he was the woman’s male version, just her with thick glasses and a goatee.

When they did arrive, mama and papa Minatozaki looked like the perfect children for the old couple, all of them were wearing loose overalls with big hats and flip flops, the picture perfect hippie family. The boys, however, looked like they just stepped out of an old japanese romance movie, in their vintage suits and hats and shiny shoes. Don’t laugh too much, grandpa Yamaguchi was an aficionado and wasn’t allowing anyone to leave if the boys weren’t dressed like that. He said good gentlemen should present themselves accordingly. 

“Yamaguchi still won’t let go of his ways, huh?!” Grandpa Minatozaki observed. “Get out of those coats and come give me a hug!”

Sana was the first one to move, he helped Chaeyoung take off his coat and then the younger boy did the same for him, they folded them and placed it in their forearms like they were taught, it only led the old couple to laugh harder. They had been friends with the Yamaguchi for years, even before their children were born, and this was exactly the type of thing that old weirdo would teach their grandkids, since their kids had been ‘corrupted’ by the free way of life of the Minatozakis. It was great, now they could corrupt the grandkids too and start a new ‘war’ about how old man Yamaguchi was just an inveterate romantic and should stop trying to get everyone to be one as well.

“Now, let’s get you kids into some comfortable clothing and get something to eat, it’s past lunch time already.” Grandma Minatozaki ushered them inside.

“Thank you for having me, sir, ma’am.” Chaeyoung bows once he gets his shoes off and steps into the entryway.

“Now, stop being so uptight!” Grandpa Minatozaki laughs. “Call me grandpa, and this is grandma! Now, come give us a hug and then Sacchan will take you to your bedroom to get out of those things!”

With a little nudge from his boyfriend, Chaeyoung does just that, he shyly hugs the old couple, who chuckles at the awkwardness, then steps aside with his luggage waiting for Sana to guide him. Much like with the Yamaguchis, the boys will be sharing the same bedroom, Sana told Chaeyoung to take a quick shower first, both got sweaty in the three piece suits, and he would start getting them settled. Getting out, the smaller boy was met with the semi-naked glory of Minatozaki Sana, and made it awkward again. The japanese just chuckled and headed in to take his own shower after a kiss on top of his boyfriend’s head.

Nayeon and Mina would be coming over in a couple of days, so grandma and grandpa Minatozaki milked each second they had with just the two boys. Grandpa Minatozaki loved tinkering, he taught the boys the basics of how to fix a car and minor house problems, like unclogging a sink or fixing the roof. Grandma Minatozaki had a large garden in the back, with a small greenhouse, she had all sorts of plants and herbs and made sure she passed on some of her knowledge to the kids. After busy mornings fixing things around the house, or just tearing them apart to build them back again, they would spend afternoons tending to the plants. It was very nice.

During the time together, grandma and grandpa Minatozaki questioned Chaeyoung about his entire life, not that the boy ever noticed it, and decided he was their grandchild now and they were going to take good care of him and help him be more confident in himself. Their conversations with Sana told them he was getting frustrated too, not that he wasn’t fully willing to wait until his boyfriend was comfortable, but he had his needs too and taking care of himself was getting less and less effective. Chaeyoung was getting less reserved about a lot of things and, maybe, they were closer then they thought.

Now, if there was one thing that took them all by surprise was how well the korean boy had taken to mechanics, he learned well from grandpa Minatozaki and found himself enjoying being with the machines very much. It wasn’t until one morning when grandma Minatozaki woke up to make breakfast and found the boy closing up her blender, that had been broken for weeks already, that everyone knew beyond a shadow of doubt that Son Chaeyoung was born to build a career with the machines. Sana was happy that one of Chaeyoung’s biggest worries had been solved.

“Well, now. I would be very disappointed if you said you don’t intend on pursuing a career in mechanics.” Grandma Minatozaki says after observing the boy for a while.

“To be honest, I didn’t know I liked it so much.” The boy answers shyly. “I thought a lot about what I wanted to do, and this is the first time I’m interested in something.”

“I’m happy you came over, then. Sana took after me and loves the plants and what we can do with them, but you certainly share my husband’s passion for getting greasy.”

“I really do like it.” Chaeyoung smiles as he turns on the blender and it works perfectly. “Guess I just needed someone to show me the way.”

“Your father doesn’t fix things himself?” The woman got curious, she knew a little about mr Son but this was just the basics.

“Oh, no. He knows anything you can think of about wine and harmonization, and it’s history, but he can’t fix a faucet to save his life. Grandpa never did anything like that too, both were raised to be the perfect high society gentlemen, but that made them very dependent about anything else.”

“You are a very honest young man, aren’t you?” The woman chuckles, moving to get the ingredients for breakfast. 

“I try to be. Mom always said she wouldn’t be angry if I was honest, and she never was. Sometimes she was disappointed, but never angry, so I just kept telling the truth.”

“She’s a very good mom indeed.” Grandma Minatozaki chuckles fondly. “Now go and clean yourself up, breakfast will be ready soon. And wake Sacchan up when you come back.”

“Yes ma’am!”

The boy salutes and skips out to get the grease out of his hands. There was this paste grandpa Minatozaki used that made cleaning up rather easy, so off to the garage he went. Waking Sana was another challenge, the boy enjoyed being woken up by his lover very much and was a very sneaky man when fishing for affection. Chaeyoung fell for it willingly each time, but still got shy about it. Today Nayeon and Mina would arrive, so he decided he wanted to be brave, mostly because it would be hard to do that after their friends got there. 

So, in an effort to break out of his shell, Chaeyoung started peppering kisses all over Sana’s face, usually he would kiss him once and leave quickly, but today was a special day. The japanese boy was surprised but very pleased, welcoming the kisses and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist, pulling Chaeyoung to lay on top of him. For the first time in a while, their playful kisses turned into something more intimate, more passionate, last time Chaeyoung had been so willing was a few days before they travelled when the boys had been alone at the Minatozakis for the afternoon. To have the younger boy do this with other people in the house was already a win in Sana’s book.

“What’s gotten into you today?” Sana giggled when they separated. “I’m loving it, don’t stop. But what happened?”

“Well, I really wanted to kiss you, and Nayeonnie and Minnie are coming today, and we won’t have that much alone time, and you know I like you a lot and I always want to kiss you-”

“Always?” The shine in the older boy’s eyes got the other melting.

“Of course! Do you even know how wonderful you are?” Chaeyoung was honestly a little frustrated. “You are the more than I could have ever hoped for, Minatozaki Sana.”

“I should warn you, don’t start things you don’t intend to finish.”

“Well, then I should definitely finish what I just started, shouldn’t I?!” The cub smiled slyly.

“You are going to be the death of me, Son Chaeyoung.” And, with that, Sana pounces his boyfriend once more.

The boys get into a much more passionate make out session, at some point, Chaeyoung gets brave and guides Sana’s hands to his ass, which squeeze immediately, this was a first. Then Chaeyoung shyly tries to give Sana a hickey, it tickled and the japanese tried to hold his giggles. He failed. They fool around a little longer until grandma Minatozaki calls for them, the boys knew she would definitely follow through with her threat to go up herself and drag them both down by their ears. It was a really good morning for Sana, and he would definitely want more mornings like this, the clumsy hickey he got was a good bonus.


	56. What have Jeong and Tzu been up to?

Opposed to most of their friends, Jeongyeon and Tzuyu were staying in Seoul during their vacation, sure they would go on a camping trip for a few days, but it was just outside the city, still Seoul. In their case, Tzuyu was taking an voluntary internship for extra credit in his college entrance evaluation, and Jeongyeon was just all around very supportive. They had talked a lot about everything and agreed to stay and busy themselves with their education,and get some work experience while at it.

Tzuyu had been pursuing a scholarship and was given some activities that would improve his chances, one of them was this internship he got approved, it helped he got permission to do it at the shelter he usually volunteered at, and this consistent volunteer work was also another thing that would raise his position on among the candidates. Since he was a student, he could only do part time, so the coupe had agreed to take summer classes in the mornings and work afternoons, that way they could spend more time together and have lunch with each other every day.

Jeongyeon, with free afternoons, decided to take a summer job and make some extra money, maybe they could go on a trip just the two of them. Plus, Tzuyu had been offered to take the tests to skip a grade and passed, the couple would be graduating together, and this money could help with a romantic graduation trip before they were consumed with college. Surprisingly, Chaeyoung had been offered to take the same test, and had also been approved, Dahyun helped a lot, having been the first among the three to have skipped grades and shared his experience, saying it was a bit harder, but he was happy to be together with their older friends.

Yerim had been sad at the news, but he was failing as it was, there was really nothing his friends could do besides help him study harder. Now, Jeongyeon knew of his boyfriend’s love for bread, the boy would live off of the baked goods if nobody was paying attention, and the fact that all employees were allowed to bring home whatever wasn’t sold by the end of the day was pure ecstasy for the taiwanese boy. Jeongyeon would always walk Tzuyu to the shelter, ashis shift at the bakery started later, and then the younger boy would wait for him at the bakery so they could walk home together. The baked goods were a welcomed bonus.

They kept this leisure pace throughout their whole vacation period, talking about nothing special during their walks and spending a few nights and the whole weekends at each others’ houses. Then the tiny couple breakup happened, and they didn’t really know how to act about it, Jihyo and Dahyun were both their friends, the same tight friendship Jeongyeon had with Jihyo, Tzuyu had with Dahyun (sure, it wasn’t as long, but equally intense). Dahyun was out of the country, and although the tall couple knew Jihyo was the one in the wrong here, all they could really do was show up with a tub of ice cream and hear him rant about whatever was on his mind.

“Tzu.” Jeongyeon calls once they settle down to sleep.

“Hmm?” Tzuyu answers absentmindedly, not looking away from his phone.

“Are we okay?” There is a tinge of fear in the older boy's voice.

“Is this because of Jihyo and Dahyun?” The younger one puts his phone away.

“Yeah, I mean, Jihyo has been messing up for too long now, and we all tried to get him to fix things but he didn’t. And I want to make sure we are okay.”

“Jeong.” Tzuyu turned on his side to face his boyfriend. “There is nothing wrong with us. Despite the fact that you still insist on your awful jokes, I love you with all my heart.”

“My jokes are the best!”

“Says who? Because I know for a fact that not even your parents lie to you about them.”

“Chaengie likes them.” Jeongyeon huffs adorably.

“Chaengie doesn’t know what’s good in life.” Tzuyu chuckles and tightens his hold. “Look, how about we go on a date tomorrow, we don’t have work and it’s been a while since we’ve spent time alone.”

“We are spending time alone now?”

“Yeah? And if I make you start squirming, Seungyeonnie won’t barge through the door demanding answers only to launch herself into another sex talk after?”

“Point taken. Where are we going, though?”

“That is for me to know and for you to find out. Now, kiss me like you mean it and try to not be too loud.”

Jeongyeon grumbles something about always meaning it but does as he’s told anyways. The young couple knows not to be too carried away, least they want a late night/early morning lesson on safe sex (they didn’t get there yet, but Seungyeon ignores this part). Morning comes and both boys head out for their classes, Tzuyu only had advanced biology, and Jeongyeon history (the boy was a chemistry genius, but he would get all the help he could with other subjects), the younger boy’s class starting about half an hour later. The time gap meant Jeongyeon could run out and get the picnic basket he had prepared and bribed Sujin to deliver it to him after class, he raised the argument that Seungyeon would, not only, ruin the surprise but also slip some toys she deemed necessary into the basket, the middle sister couldn’t argue with that.

Middle Yoo was feeling generous, nothing to do with the chocolate cake she was promised for this, and said she would take the boys to their destination. Jeongyeon told her where they were going so the woman could set her gps while he went to get Tzuyu at his classroom. The good part of summer classes was they didn’t have to wear their uniform, so Jeongyeon made an extra effort to look nice and Tzuyu was just stunning regardless. Tzuyu would argue that Jeongyeon was the stunning one, but then the slightly shorter boy would give him the puppy eyes and for the younger one to agree to whatever he wanted.

“You ready?” Jeongyeon beamed as soon as he saw his boyfriend.

“You make it sound like you haven’t seen me in forever.” Tzuyu chuckled.

“That’s because each minute away from you feels like eternity in my heart.”

“Would you stop spending so much time with Dahyun and Chaeyoung?”

“You love when I get romantic and everyone knows it!”

“Says who?” The younger boy gets sassy.

“Says everyone, now you two stop making us singles jealous and get out of here.” Sooyoung had appeared behind Tzuyu, looking at the younger boy with amusement.

“Tzu, you can’t pretend to save your life, and that blush tells me you are loving it.” Jeongyeon adds. “But let’s go before Soongie kicks our butts and Sujinnie leaves us behind.”

“You two are too adorable, I can’t bring myself to be mad when you are together.” Sooyoung confesses. “Now go and be cute somewhere else!”

Both boys salute, which brings a chuckle to the footballer, who shakes his head and waves them away. Sujin had told her brother they could both seat on the back, it was their date after all, so Jeongyeon opens the door for Tzuyu and jogs around the car after, middle Yoo drives off as the boys are still putting on their seatbelts. The ride was fun, as it always had been with Sujin, they made jokes and sang along to whatever playlist the woman had clicked on, and before anyone noticed, the car was pulling into a parking spot in front of a park. It was the couple’s park, the place where Tzuyu so shyly handed Jeongyeon a love letter and the older boy just hugged him tightly.

“Call me when you want to go back, I’ll come pick you up.” Sujin said, waving the boys off and leaving.

“Shall we?” Jeongyeon offered his arm.

“Take me away.” Tzuyu chuckled and took the arm.

They headed to a small gazebo, one they happened upon during a walk, it’s a little away from the main paths and not many people go there, simply because it was far. Both boys decided it was their place now, after spending an afternoon there and the only other presence had been a dog sitter who was letting the pups run free for a while and Tzuyu had just been so happy his eyes disappeared with his smile, his dimple had never been so deep as well. Jeongyeon was just happy to see his boyfriend relax, they were waiting for the approval for Tzuyu’s internship back then and the shelter was having trouble getting approval from the universities to get everything officialized.

Today they were alone, some children were laughing and running close enough for the boys to hear them, but they couldn’t really see anybody once they got to their place. Jeongyeon spread the towel, despite the fact that they weren’t on the grass, and placed the basket down before taking a seat and pulling Tzuyu to his lap. They just sat there, feeling the heat and the breeze and enjoying each other, only moving after the younger boy’s stomach decided to remind them they still hadn’t had lunch. With chuckle, both move to take the food out and dish it out, all Tzuyu’s favorites, Jeongyeon was honestly the sweetest. 

They eat and talk between giggles and shy kisses, it was a nice afternoon. Jeongyeon had sent Sujin a text, saying they would be spending the afternoon there and she could go around her business with ease, she said ok and that she would be around the area regardless. The boys decide to walk around a little to help digest lunch, then head back to their place and settle under the cherry tree, right beside the gazebo, where the shade was still present. They spend the rest of the afternoon leaning against the tree, talking about everything and just enjoying each other. Jeongyeon did have one more trick up his sleeve, however.

“Tzu?”

“Hmm?” The younger boy is a little sleepy.

“I love you very much, and I want you to always remember how important and precious you are to me.” Jeongyeon confesses, tightening his arms around his boyfriend.

“I love you too, Jeong. You make me so happy every day.” 

There is a soft smile on the boys’ lips and a loving glint in their eyes.

“I know we are young and just highschool students, but I can’t see my life without you.” Jeongyeon takes a small box from his pocket. “And it’s still so early for us, but I wanted something that you could look at and remember I’m yours forever.”

“Are you proposing?” Tzuyu chuckles fondly.

“Yes and no. Like I said, we are just kids, but I don’t see myself without you, so I bought us promise rings.”

“You are the cutest being on this planet!” The younger one turns, still on his boyfriend’s arms, and kisses him fondly. “I love it, of course I’ll wear them with you!”

Jeongyeon, by now completely flushed, takes the rings and puts one on Tzuyu’s right ring finger, the taller boy smiling brightly and doing the same. Then they share loving kisses and giggles until Sujin calls and tells them she’s heading home, asking if they want a ride. They do. Nobody at the Yoos really notices the rings, if they do, they don’t comment, which the boys are thankful for. After dinner, the family has their daily talk, and everyone heads off to do their own thing before sleep.

Tzuyu and Jeongyeon take turns showering and get to bed early, cuddling each other until morning.


	57. Dahyun is in Jeju, Jihyo is sad

Since the breakup, Dahyun and Jihyo had been in completely different situations. While Dahyun had accepted the fact that the relationship had been strained past it’s limit and was at peace with the breakup, Jihyo hadn’t thought about it at all, to him things were fine and it came out of nowhere when his boyfriend, I mean ex-boyfriend called things off. Sure, absolutely all of their friends had told the older boy he should do something to make things right with his boyfriend, but he thought it was just a small misunderstanding, nothing worth breaking up over.

From the moment the call ended, Dahyun had freed himself, allowed himself to experience new things, feel everything fully, do whatever he wanted to but didn’t out of respect for his boyfriend. He went swimming with Lisa and her friends, flirted around, had a great time, and even hooked up with his Thai friend, they decided to remain friends after a few times together, having found out they weren’t really that compatible romantically. It was great, and both Joohyun and Seungwan were glad their little one was feeling much better, maybe not so much that he was a little too free with his endeavours, but both decided to not focus on that too much. Mr and Mrs Bae were just happy their youngest was feeling the best he did in the last months, maybe the last year.

Jihyo, the one who should have done something but didn’t, took a while to understand what happened, when Dahyun said to break up, he was stunned, rendered numb to all the feelings that should have bubbled up. Maybe that was the very reason this mess happened in the first place, he had been putting his relationship aside for too long. If Jihyo had done something when he noticed the first time he hadn’t talked to his boyfriend in three days, or when his friends beat him up and told him to do something, perhaps when Joohyun didn’t allow him to enter the Bae house to see Dahyun, even when his own mother said he was going to lose the love of his life if he continued to take things for granted.

Now, it’s not like Jihyo was intentionally ditching his relationship, but he let routine and new things fill up all his time and was so certain Dahyun would always be there that his relationship wasn’t really any priority in his mind. He had just won the Chem olympics, then there was Seulgi’s cousin, Daniel, a really interesting and fun guy to hang out with, and there was also all the fallout of the wrestling team and the repercussions of it. At the end of the day, Jihyo knew it was all on him, his boyfriend had grown tired of being in a relationship alone and decided to free himself, he couldn’t even be mad at Dahyun for calling things off.

Now, the days Dahyun was in Thailand were tough for Jihyo, even if he wanted to do something out of despair, he couldn’t, but nothing worse than knowing that the younger boy was just down in Jeju and he still couldn’t just show up there and try to get him back. Seungwan had been the one to message Jihyo, knowing the boy would have found out at some point, telling him to not even think about showing up. Grandpa Son liked the boy very much and would have welcomed him regardless of what anybody else said, and Dahyun still wanted some time away from the older boy, especially because talking to him would be unavoidable once they got back to Seoul.

Jihyo had been very down, Daniel tried to meet up a few times, claiming Seulgi and Yeri were driving him crazy and that he wanted to have some time with just the two of them before he had to go back home and finish packing. The smaller boy said something about work and turned him down gently, Jihyo wasn’t really doing much, he had even stopped going to work at the shelter, only attending classes because he needed the extra hours and they were failable, and failing summer school was something even he would down upon. He had been skipping gym as well, giving his parents the excuse that he wasn’t wrestling anymore and could take an off season at the moment.

With so much time to himself, Jihyo had time to think through everything that happened and revisit the mistakes that were made. He understood where Dahyun was coming from when he said that their relationship wasn’t working and how he got the impression that Jihyo didn’t want him anymore. But there is no use crying over spilled milk, this time Jihyo had to rethink everything and see clearly what he had done was used to also understand what needed to change and improve if he wanted to go after the younger boy again. 

Jeong and Tzu showed up a few times, but they had just left for their camping trip, Seulgi and Yeri were busy trying to get the younger boy to not flunk (summer classes was his last chance) and everyone else was out of town, or the country. He heard from a conversation between Jennie and Chaeyoung (the tall girl, Park Chaeyoung, not our anxious gnome), that he was definitely not listening in because he heard Thailand and Dahyun among the sentences, that Lisa, their long legged friend, had told the shorter girl she had made out with the pale boy and he was a hidden giant. 

Then he breathed a little more relieved when Jennie continued to say that Lisa said Dahyun didn’t look like it with his usual clothes but when they went to the beach she found out he was huge, even saved her from some handsy tourist by simply showing up and flexing a little. Well, the younger Bae was, indeed, completely ripped, Dahyun gained muscle easily and kept them with little effort, something Jihyo had always been envious about, and now sporting a full beard, he could pass as older, not to mention his hairy chest helped make his built look that much bigger. Jihyo preferred to believe his boyfriend didn’t go too far with the Thai girl.

Ex-boyfriend, Jihyo, get with the program.

Now, Jihyo knew the Bae brothers and Sana were at Grandpa Son’s rest house in Jeju, a place he was supposed to be too, but he screwed everything up. Mama Park had enough of her son moping around and decided to take things into her own hands, however. She had been talking to papa Son while the boys were in Thailand, the man wasn’t very much for this plan, but he also wanted Jihyo to have a chance to shape up and be the man he knew his parents raised the boy to be. He would have to talk to the boys, but Jihyo was going to spend time with them in Jeju and try to be forgiven and they will have to be okay with it.

Mama Park proceeded to tell her son to pack for a week and not ask questions, she was taking him to the Son mansion (mr Park was out on another business trip down in Daejeon). Jihyo tried to understand what his mother was planning, but the woman was a master in the art of deflecting, and they were headed to the train station, not a single clue was being given. The trip to Jeju was alright, mrs Park always had a weird fondness for on-board food, something about it being just so bad it was good, yeah, nobody ever understood. They arrived in Busan only to hop on a ferry to Jeju City, and that was when the boy understood their destination.

“Mom?” Jihyo asks, a little weary.

“Yes, dear?” The woman answers nonchalantly.

“Why are you taking me to grandpa Son’s? You know I’m not exactly welcome there right now.”

“Exactly because of that. Dongwoon and I talked to grandpa and grandma Son, and then to the boys so you could have a chance to try and fix your mistakes.” Jihyo makes to protest but the woman continues before he can speak. “Yes, you do need the help so don’t even. Also, Dahyun just agreed to be civil, claiming it wasn’t his house so he can’t really do anything about it, and that he can’t promise he will even want to talk to you at all. So, we could only get you to be in the same place as him, it’s all up to you to try your best and accept whatever Dubs will be willing to give back.”

“You could have told me, you know?” The boy concedes.

“No I couldn’t.” Mrs Park says dryly.

“No you couldn’t, you’re right.”

The rest of the way is filled with conversations about nothing important, just a way to get Jihyo’s mind out of the situation, mrs Park also decides to begin an impromptu boat photoshoot, which is kind of limited since they were on a ferry and there wasn’t really that much space to pose around, but it got her son to loosen up a little and that was the goal. Once they do arrive in Jeju City, mrs Park takes them to the car rental place and they are off to the Son rest house. It was in a very private neighborhood, near the national park, close to nature, the warm breeze of the island making everything move slower, a very nice place to let loose and relax without having to think about anything.

They arrived, the boys had gone down to the beach, mrs Son had offered to take them, and the adults had decided to make some barbecue in the back, Naeun was out partying in one of her toys’ yacht, or something like that nobody really cared. Mama Park found a spot in the garage and dragged her boy inside, Jihyo was very nervous, but relaxed a bit when they were told the boys weren’t in. This was happening, it was real, and he could only accept whatever Dahyun did because he had no more say on anything about the boy.


	58. Well, this ain’t it

Now, the thing about breakups is that it is very different to each party. While Jihyo was still unaccepting and intent on picking the relationship back up, Dahyun had been frustrated over quite a long time, and now was getting everything that was bottled up out. He wanted to go out, feel wanted, have someone to talk to and show interest in him, be kissed and feel the lust from the other person, things he hadn’t felt in months, not for lack of trying. Jihyo had been blowing Dahyun off long before they stopped talking, it began with not having sleep overs, then their study sessions were being cut shorter and shorter until they stopped, then Jihyo didn’t want to go to school with Dahyun anymore, after a while he didn’t even wait to greet him before classes. 

When the younger Bae was told Jihyo was on his way, he was disappointed, he could have been angry, but disappointment was more prevalent, his parents, his brother-in-law and his own brother conspired behind him to force a situation he wasn’t ready nor willing to be in. Sure, he would talk to Jihyo eventually, but at the moment he just wanted some time away from his ex to clear his head, unwind and enjoy himself a little, he hadn’t been enjoying himself around Jihyo for too long already. 

It was Dahyun’s idea to head down to the beach and not wait around for Jihyo to arrive. Joohyun and Seungwan understood and offered to go with him, they were already feeling a knife twist in their gut with the look Dahyun gave everyone when he heard the news. The older boys understood both sides, but Joohyun was nothing but his brother’s biggest supporter (he had tried to talk everyone out of doing it but was ultimately shut down), and would never leave Dahyun’s corner. So here the boys were, with a grumpy mrs Son, sitting under the parasol, enjoying the warm breeze and seeing Dahyun have fun with a group he met at the beach (Sana and Chaeyoung had arrived very tired from Japan and took the day to sleep it off).

It surprised everyone that Dahyun was the one to approach the group, about five girls and three guys, they were playing beach-volleyball and the pale boy asked if he could join them. Everyone was very friendly and accepted him promptly, they played a lot, then decided to swim a little to wash out the sweat and sand, two girls seemed to have taken a liking to the boy and were happy to be all over him the entire time. Not that Dahyun seemed to be complaining at all, if anything, he looked very happy to have so much attention on himself.

They swam, played in the water, Dahyun, for the first time, allowed himself to be a silly teen and showed off his strength carrying both girls on his shoulders, the other guys looked a little intimidated but the group was still having fun. When it was time to head back for lunch, mrs Son told Joohyun to go get his little brother as it was time for them to head back. Joohyun went a little begrudgingly but it’s not like he had much choice, it was better than mrs Son going herself. He approached the group slowly, making sure Dahyun would see him before he got to them.

“Hyun!” The little brother greets. “Guys, this is my big brother.”

The group greets Joohyun enthusiastically, the footballer greets back before turning to his little brother.

“Dubs, it’s time to start heading back.”

“She’s gonna come get me herself isn’t she?” The younger one motioned to mrs Son.

“Yup. I volunteered to come.”

Joohyun, Dahyun and the girls coddling him chuckled. One of said girls looked like she had an idea.

“Say, Dubs.” She calls. “Give us your number, we are going out later and Choerry and I would love to have you with us.”

“Lip is right, you know. We still have a lot of talking to do.” The other girl, Choerry, drags her hands over the boy’s chest and back and rests them on his arm.

“Well, can’t say no to that now, can I?” Dahyun giggles. “Give me your phone.”

The girl hands it over right away, Dahyun types his number in and hands it back, then gets up to leave. Both girls get up with him and they all share a hug too intimate to look at, Joohyun turns his gaze to where his boyfriend and mother-in-law were, seeing Seungwan somewhere between amused and embarrassed, and mrs Son looking conflicted. The woman wanted Dahyun to feel better, at the same time, she was already in too deep with meddling on the boy’s life, and seeing him be so free and comfortable made her want to leave him with this group of other kids.

“You look excited.” Joohyun commented, looking at his little brother.

“I might have a date later.” Dahyun chirped.

“Oh? I thought we were staying in?” Seungwan pouts from the front seat.

“And I thought I was going to have a nice couple of weeks to enjoy.” Dahyun shoots back.

“Be nice!” Mrs Son chastises, but that’s as far as she’ll go.

The younger Bae just shrugs and distracts himself with his phone, Joohyun tries to coax him to join their conversation again but it’s fruitless. Mrs Son shakes her head sadly but entertains her son when Seungwan prompts a random subject for them to talk about. It’s an uncomfortable ride, and Dahyun is doing absolutely nothing to help the situation, but the other three put in their best effort to pretend nothing is wrong. It’s about twenty minutes from the beach to the house, grandpa Son wanted to be close enough to walk to the beach if he wanted to, but far enough not to get stray vacationers wandering around.

“Dahyun, a word.” Mr and mrs Bae had been waiting at the porch.

“We’ll talk later.” Joohyun whispers and hugs his brother before entering.

The younger Bae already knows what this might be about, but he waits for his parents to start talking. It’s not like he is that enthusiastic about it either.

“Come sit with us, son.” Mr Bae pats the space between himself and his wife. 

“Can we not?” Dahyun wines as he sits down anyway.

“Look.” Mrs Bae starts softly. “We know you don’t want this situation, and we were against this plan from the beginning.”

“So, your mother and I talked and if you want to go with us when we get back to Seoul, we’ll be happy to take you back.”

“Really?” The boy feels a little better to have an out.

“Really. Look, we didn’t like seeing you as you were back then and putting you on the spot like this isn’t the way to go.” Mrs Bae continues. “We are going back in three days, and you can come with us if you need to.”

“Thanks mom, dad. I’ll think about it, but it’s more likely that I’ll go.” Dahyun relaxes. “Also, I made some friends at the beach today, and they invited me to go out with them later.”

“Just call me and I’ll take you.” Mr Bae answers, the couple didn’t need to ask anything else.

“Thanks. I’ll keep talking to them and tell you later.” The boy hugs his parents before getting up and heading inside.

Dahyun can hear Jihyo and Seungwan talking in the kitchen, so he heads directly upstairs, might as well take a shower. Getting to his room, he sees that a new luggage was placed there, it could only mean they put Jihyo in the same room as him and that was already taking things way too far. He could room with Seungwan and Joohyun, but the boys knew about everything and said nothing, well, his parents as well, but mama and papa Bae seemed to be trying to fight for him. So, Dahyun quickly gathers his things, quite easy as he hadn’t really unpacked anything, and heads to his parents’ room, there was a comfy couch in the corner and it would be good enough for another couple of nights.

Now our pale boy feels comfortable to take his shower, making sure he spends as long as he could with everything just because, not like he didn’t intend to shower again before his night outing. Shaving crossed his mind, but the girls liked his beard, so he decided to just groom it better, his hair was a very light blue already, and he had some quick toner too, so the boy proceeded to darken his locks. Back to black wouldn’t be possible at the moment, but it got to a nice light brown, and now he was definitely going back home in three days, so he could wait until then to go to a proper barber shop.

“You know, you could just do that later, right?” Joohyun says, leaning against the doorway.

“Well, it’s not like I’m excited to go downstairs.” Dahyun says but doesn’t put his trimmer down.

“You have to talk to him at some point.”

“And that point will be when I decide to, not when you all force me to.”

“Look, I’m sorry, but what could I do really?”

“You could have told me and given me time to prepare.”

Joohyun just looks down guiltily, yeah, he should have told his brother. But he felt like there was nothing to do, and Seungwan was very much in favor of this plan, ultimately, he should have had his baby brother’s back and he didn’t.

“Look, you hesitated and I’ll try to get over it. Right now, I’m gonna finish trimming my beard and then I’ll go down to eat.”

“Alright. Just, try not to be too angry.”

“I’m not angry, Hyun.” Dahyun sighs, this time turning to his brother. “I’m insulted that everyone here thinks they can decide my life for me. I’m disappointed that my wish to not see him was completely ignored, and I’m sad that everyone seems to be putting his wishes above mine.”

“And I’m really sorry that you are feeling like this, Hyun.” Joohyun pulls his little brother into the most loving hug he could muster. “I’m so sorry.”

Dahyun lets himself cry a little, this was all too much and he just wanted to spend some last few vacation days happily playing on the beach and, maybe, making some friends. But things don’t always go according to plan, and now he had been thrown in a situation he wished he wasn’t. The younger Bae doesn’t take long to control himself and proceeds to wash his face and make sure it doesn’t look like he just cried, it was good enough for everyone, but he knew Jihyo would notice.

“Chae had been asking for you.” Joohyun tries to lift the mood.

“I’d find it weird if he wasn’t.”

“You could have come to our room, you know?!” The older says as they make their way downstairs.

“I thought about that, but you and wannie need your time alone. And nobody is really going to barge into mom and dad’s room.”

“I didn’t think about that.”

“I figured. Forcing us to be in the same room was really the last straw.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I’m definitely not willing to sit idly and take any of this quietly.”

“I’m glad you are standing up for yourself, and I’m really sorry I stayed silent through all of this.”

“I’ll get over it at some point. Right now, I need you to keep silent a little longer and not tell anyone I moved to mom and dad’s room.”

“That, I can definitely do.”

The boys giggle as Joohyun pulls Dahyun into a loving side-hug just as they go through the backdoor, everyone else was already busy with something, Chaeyoung and Sana seemed to be fixing the firepit, it was electrical and the burner wasn’t working. Jihyo was sitting with Seungwan a little further away talking among themselves, the adults had a few groups and grandpa Son, along with mr Bae were very impressed with the tinkering boys. Dahyun feels it’s better that he makes himself unavailable as much as he can, so he heads straight to Chaeyoung and pulls him up in a back hug, Sana giggles with his boyfriend’s surprise and joins in.

Contrary to popular belief, Sana was absurdly perceptive, he had already pieced everything together from everything he had been hearing since they arrived the previous evening. Chaeyoung and him weren’t present when things were being discussed, and they had decided to take a boat from Sapporo as mrs Minatozaki wanted to bring her car back to Korea. It was an old SUV, her very first car, and seeing it again when she got to her parents’ house made her feel nostalgic and she wanted to work on it then pass it onto Sana in a few months when the boy went off to college. Grandpa Yamaguchi took care of the papers and the family left two days earlier to do a road trip up to Jeju.

“You can always room with us, you know.” Sana whispered in Dahyun’s ear.

“Thanks, but you two need your time alone as a couple.” The younger Bae says honestly.

“You know I’ll always have your back, Dubs.” Chaeyoung adds from the other side. “And now Sacchan will always have your back too.”

“I sure will.” The japanese chirps.

It seems this couple has progressed a lot in their relationship because next thing Dahyun knows is he is getting two obnoxiously wet kisses from them followed by loud giggles and the two are back to fiddling with the firepit. The pale boy shakes his head fondly and takes a seat to observe them, talking to them and getting to know about their time in Japan, telling them what his thing with Lisa was about and how much fun Thailand was. It was a nice time, and Dahyun ends up getting food for himself which is eaten by Sana and Chaeyoung who had their hands dirty and were very hungry, it’s not like he could say no to the puppy eyes.

**LET’S PARTY**

BeardedDaddy, LipsDon’tLie and ChoerryBomb

ChoerryBomb: so, you gonna come and keep us company???

LipsDon’tLie: we will be really happy if you come

ChoerryBomb: really happy

BeardedDaddy: on one condition

LipsDon’tLie: tell us and it’s yours

BeardedDaddy: don’t call me bearded daddy

ChoerryBomb: that we can’t promise

LipsDon’tLie: what we can promise is a great evening

BeardedDaddy: tell me where and when

ChoerryBomb: why don’t we come and pick you up?

BeardedDaddy: is it okay if I bring someone?

LipsDon’tLie: depends

ChoerryBomb: are the three of us still going to have fun?

BeardedDaddy: i just think my best friend and his boyfriend migh want to tag along

*might

LipsDon’tLie: then it’s alright

BeardedDaddy: so, we’ll meet you there and i should need a ride back tho

LipsDon’tLie: no problem

ChoerryBomb: you can always crash in our bed

BeardedDaddy: then i guess i won’t be needing that ride

LipsDon’tLie: guess you won’t

ChoerryBomb:  _ sent and address _

be there at eight

BeardedDaddy: anything specific i should be wearing?

LipsDon’tLie: blue top, black bottoms

BeardedDaddy: so i should come in all black?

ChoerryBomb: wait what

LipsDon’tLie: that’s good to know, but i was talking about shirts and pants

BeardedDaddy: yes ma’am

ChoerryBomb: so we are just ignoring it?

LipsDon’tLie: no, we are savin it for later

BeardedDaddy: something like that

gotta go, ttyl

“What are you smiling like a creep about?” Chaeyoung asks, plopping down beside his friend.

“He got a hot date tonight.” Sana supplies, taking the other side.

“What Sacchan said.”

“You are seriously going on a date?” Chaeyoung looks surprised.

“I’m single, Chaeng.” Dahyun says fondly. “It doesn’t matter that most everyone here decided it was alright to meddle in my business and force me to be around him. I’m going to go out and have some fun and take my head out of this situation.”

“As he should.” Sana intervenes before his boyfriend says anything. “We were away and didn’t know about anything, but being forced to stay in the same house as your ex when you just wanted some time for yourself.”

“And how do you know this?” Chaeyoung’s insecurities start rising.

“Mom and dad married late and just because mom got pregnant. They had been living together for years when that happened, and grandpa didn’t exactly know, he was trying to get her married to someone from the extended family.” Sana laughs but takes his boyfriend’s hand and holds it tightly. “For the first few years grandpa still didn’t accept their marriage that well, so I spend my first five summers watching this distant cousin, or whatever, try to get mom to divorce dad and leave us for him.”

“Now, what anime drama is that?” Dahyun chuckles, pulling both boys closer to him, trying to get his best friend to relax a little more. “But you two are also invited if you want to come.”

“We’ll go!” Sana answers for both. “Don’t even try, Chaeng, we need to go out and have fun.”

“Fine, we’ll go.” The cub agrees trying to sound sulky.

“Great, because we have to be there at eight and it takes about half an hour to get there.” Dahyun announces happily. “So you two be ready by seven or I’m leaving you.”

“Shouldn’t it be seven thirty?” Chaeyoung asks.

“It should if you both would actually be ready on time. But I also want us to eat something before we go, because I certainly don’t trust there will be a snack table and am not willing to take the risk.”

“It’s a great plan, Dubs.” Sana coos with a cheek pinch to the boy. “Now, we are going to mingle and you should find your next refuge because Hyo is looking at us just waiting to pounce.”

“Don’t worry, I’m going to sit right in the middle of mrs Park and my parents. This should be interesting.” 

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Sana asks.

“I couldn’t do worse than what they are doing to me.”

With that, Dahyun is up and heading to the adults, he hugs his dad as he passes by and kisses his mom before sitting down beside her. Mrs Park looks like she is about to have a stroke or blurt out whatever she’s been keeping inside.

Oh, fun!


	59. This could be it

Turned out, mrs Park decided to keep quiet and just eat her food. The fact that mr and mrs Bae were looking like they will slap a bitch if anyone says anything might have had something to do with the silence, but who knows. Dahyun just enjoyed his very late lunch, making small talk with his parents and being thoroughly ignored by mrs Park, he didn’t care much at this point only wishing for time to go by a little faster so he could just go out and forget things a little. 

“Dad?” The younger Bae whispers when he sees the chance.

“Hmm?” Mr Bae answers discreetly.

“Can I talk to you and mom soon? In private?”

“I’m guessing you want this to be a secret talk?” The man whispers as well.

“If possible. I’ll be waiting in your room.”

“We’ll be right up.”

Then the boy finishes his food and gets up with the plates, to anyone else, it just seems like Dahyun was just headed to the kitchen to clean up after himself. Jihyo thought about trying to follow, but he was talking to Chaeyoung and grandpa Son, and couldn’t leave the conversation just like that. Making sure nobody was coming after him, the boy made his way upstairs to his parents’ room and closed the door behind him, it was unlikely that anyone would be looking for him there or at all, but no harm in being careful. He sat on the couch just out of view from anyone peeking through the door and waited. Not long after, mr and mrs Bae came in looking slightly worried.

“You two don’t have to worry that much.” Dahyun says as soon as he sees their faces.

“You asked to talk to us alone and in secret, of course we are going to worry!” Mrs Bae scolds, making her way to sit beside her son.

“Not to mention, you’ve been very quiet and looking pissed since you got back from the beach.” Mr Bae took the seat on the boy’s other side.

The Baes were a loving family, though not overly affectionate in their daily lives, they would always sit close and hold each other for deep conversations like this. Usually the sons in the middle being held by their parents, but if one parent was having a rough time, they would gladly invert their positions. 

“Well, they put Jihyo in the room I was staying at, so can I stay here?”

“Of course you can, son.” Mr Bae declares promptly. “But we are heading to Seoul soon.”

“Another thing I wanted to talk to you about.” Dahyun takes a steadying breath. “I’ll go back to Seoul with you. I don’t want to have this confrontation yet, and I can’t really trust anyone here to respect me enough to not try and force it.”

“Then I’ll get you a ticket. We’ll leave thursday afternoon, so you have to hang in there for another two and a half days.” Mrs Bae informs.

“Thanks, mom. I think I can survive.”

The couple hugs their youngest for a moment before the boy continues.

“Also, like I said, I have a date tonight.” The couple humms amusedly. “Is it okay if I don’t have a curfew today?”

“Well, son, you are in your last year of highschool and you’ve been with Jihyo since forever, I think it’s past the time you spread your wings a little, as long as you are responsible.”

“I just don’t want to be here today, mom.” Dahyun whines.

“And with that, I’m taking you to a pharmacy when I take you to your date.” Mr Bae chuckles.

“Why would we need to goto one?” The question is so innocent that the couple almost falls for it.

“Because I’m too young to be a grandma and you aren’t even getting married yet.” Mama Bae plays along.

“What? But I don’t intend on doing any of that?”

“I didn’t either, but then Joohyun happened.” Papa Bae reveals.

“I thought you both were in college when Hyunnie happened?”

“Oh, we were.” Mrs Bae remembers amusedly. “Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be listening to your father, though.”

“Fine, but Sana and Chaeng are coming too.”

“I thought you said date?” The mother laughs this time.

“It’s more of a luau party down by the beach. I have two girls waiting for me, but I thought they could enjoy coming along too.” Dahyun reveals. “Sacchan said Chaeng had a few episodes when they were in Japan, and the tension here today is through the roof. The girls said it was alright for me to bring them, and if one of you could pick them up later, even if I’m not heading back yet, that would be great.”

“Your father is taking you, and one of us can come pick you up whenever. If Chae needs to leave, just send us a message, or tell Sana to message us and we’ll come pick them up.”

“Thanks mom, dad.” The boy pulls his parents into a tight hug. “I’ll just go ahead and start getting ready. I want to do another toner in my hair before I have to shower and see if it gets a little darker.”

“Why don’t you just go to a salon?” Mr Bae asks.

“I will when we get back to Seoul, Juhyun noona already confirmed an appointment for this friday and she told me herself to just use a toner to darken it. Said it won’t get in the way of her dying it and would help hydrate the hair as well.” The boy explains.

“If Juhyun said so, go for it.” Mrs Bae concedes. “Speaking of which, I’m going to try and get an appointment with you so we can go together.”

“I want an appointment too! Ask them if Taehyun is free and get me a spot too.” Mr Bae whines as he gets up. “Now, I’ll tell Sana and Chae I’m taking you and getting the car ready. Have fun trying to not get your hair all spotted.”

“Will do, thanks dad!”

Mrs Bae just laughs, already in a call with the hair salon, trying to get them all a family afternoon together. Joohyun would be a little sulky when he hears about it, but he was staying in Jeju with his boyfriend to have all kinds of unrestrained fun, there wasn’t much he should be complaining about. Dahyun, indeed, proceeds to the bathroom, snatching an old tshirt and the second bottle of hair toner he had bought that morning. He had managed the first one to look uniform and it got a nice light brown to stick, now it was more about getting it a little darker to look more natural, he would also do some proper maintenance on his beard, it was too full and he wanted more of the stubble look than the full coverage look.

Dahyun had gone down to the kitchen after applying the toner to start preparing something to eat before they left, some were still in the back, talking around the fire, Sana and Chaeyoung were in the living room watching a movie with Jihyo, Joohyun and Seungwan, grandma Son was cooking something too, maybe something for dinner, it was hard to tell. The presence made the boy a bit uneasy, but he decided he cared for what these people thought as little as they cared for what he felt. The woman saw him enter and didn’t do much besides peek at him and keep doing what she was doing.

Dahyun started with looking at what was in the fridge, there were some meats left over from lunch, some good cheeses and he knew there was some bread laying around. He got a pan and started shredding the meat, fried some garlic and onion in butter and made a nice meat sauce, he cut the bread, stuffed it with cheese and the meat sauce and then stuck the sandwiches in the oven. Only when he was done did grandma Son decided to speak, he had seen her watching him the entire time.

“Why are you like this?” The woman asked.

“I don’t think I follow?” He doesn’t really look away from the oven.

“Why are you pretending he is not here? Why are you distant from everyone? Why-”

“Why am I so angry?” Dahyun interrupts. “Because everyone here decided I have no right to decide what I want for my own life. Because you all decided that my feelings and my right to feel them are below him, below the fact that he is sulky because of something he did.”

There is a pause where they just look at each other, grandma Son had never heard the boy sound so hurt and empty. But, before she could say anything, he turned the oven off and continued.

“Excuse me.”

Dahyun gives a small bow and leaves, he heads straight into the shower and proceeds to get ready, it was almost time to leave anyways. He had been texting the girls all day, going as far as sending them pictures of his outfit options and taking their input. In the end, he sprays just enough perfume for the girls to smell when he hugs them, but not enough to feel like he was trying too hard, puts some beard oil before brushing it carefully, and even decides to wear a watch, something he usually doesn’t just because he claims it’s too heavy. All in all, Bae Dahyun was a whole meal that evening.

Mrs Bae hugs her son as he leaves, reminding him of his wallet and phone, before proceeding to the bathroom herself. Might as well prepare a romantic bath for herself and her husband now that they didn’t have to worry about their youngest that much. The boy proceeds to Sana and Chaeyoung’s room, knocking for good measure and opening the door when he is invited in. Chaeyoung was panicking to choose between two shirts and Sana was finishing tying his shoes, patiently waiting for his boyfriend’s crisis to be over. Dahyun feels a nice warmth spread through his chest knowing his best friend found someone to take care of him like this.

“The blue one.” The pale boy suggests. “It matches Sacchan’s light blue one and folded sleeves always look better on you than the short ones.”

“Told you.” Sana chuckles lovingly. “Now, put it on so we can go and eat those wonderful sandwiches Dubs made us.”

“If they are still where I left them.” 

“I made Wannie promise he would guard them with his life.” The japanese chuckles. “They are there.”

“Well, then let’s get something to eat, already.”

Chaeyoung gumbles a little, but hurries up regardless. He too loved Dahyun’s sandwiches, and he knew he did take too long deciding his shirt. The group makes their way into the kitchen, Dahyun pulls out the tray and serves his friends, then himself, putting four other sandwiches into a tupperware, taking a photo and sending it to Seungwan to let him know there was something for the other three as well, but asking him to wait for them to leave first. It was a very nice meal, there were some chips in the cabinet and orange juice in the fridge, they were very satisfied when finished and Mr Bae had already passed them by, grabbing a sandwich from the tray and saying he would be waiting in the car.

“I’ll just bring this one up to mom and be right out.” The youngest Bae says, grabbing a serving and heading upstairs quickly.

Sana and Chaeyoung make a quick stop in the downstairs bathroom to brush their teeth (the Sons had disposable toothbrushes in all of their guest bathrooms) then head out. Our pale boy gives his mother thesnack and takes the time to brush his teeth as well, then grabs a mint strip for good measure and skips out the door quickly. In the car, Dahyun texts Seungwan that they were already out and he should grab their snack before someone finds it. Joohyun texts angrily, saying his little brother was a punk, that he should have said goodbye before leaving but that everything was forgiven because the food was delicious.

The stop at the drugstore was awkward, Dahyun was really not thinking about going there at all, but mr Bae insisted that it was better to be prepared, and it absolutely did not help that Sana and Chaeyoung were playing along and getting themselves some condoms. The pale boy’s saving grace was that the girls had chosen cargo shorts for him and he wouldn’t have to suspiciously stuff his pockets. What he didn’t know was that the girls had chosen those because he would be carrying their phones and wallets for the whole party because the fashion industry hates women and they were not about to spend a whole party worrying about purses.

Dahyun texted when they were about five minutes away, mostly just to let them know he was close. Choerry said they got held back because Olivia (one of the girls who were with the group) had fallen face first running from a squirrel and they had to get the nosebleed under control before leaving. When Dahyun revealed why they were waiting outside Sana laughed heartily and declared he already liked these people. Chaeyoung was still a bit nervous, but when the group did arrive, everyone was just so energetic he couldn’t help but allow himself to be taken away by their great energy.

“Here.” Lip hands the pale boy their things even before greeting him properly.

“Huh?” Dahyun is a bit confused, but takes the phones and wallets anyway.

“You didn’t think we chose cargo pants for you because they look cute, right?” The girl laughed. “You are going to keep these safe for Choerry and I.”

“Oh!” The boy understands. “Yes ma’am.” He puts them in his pockets before turning to the girls. “Can I get my hugs now?”

“You can get anything you want, sexy.” Choerry whispers just loud enough for the three of them.

Dahyun clears his throat at that and decides it’s better to introduce everyone.

“So, this is my bestest friend Chaeyoung, and this lovely gentleman is Sana, his boyfriend.” He points each one out as he introduces. “And these are Hyejoo, Chaewon, Taehyun, Beomgyu, Choerry and Jungeun.”

The couple greets the group and all head inside, Sana and Chaeyoung had already been told to call mr or mrs Bae if they wanted to leave without Dahyun, and everyone sets out to do their own thing. Dahyun and his girls take the dancefloor, Sana and Chaeyoung decide to roam around and see what’s up, Taehyun spots a keg and decides he has to do a keg stand because it would be awesome, Beomgyu goes along because he is nice like that, Hyejoo and Chaewon opt to mingle with other people because they definitely lost interest on the two boys, and aren’t about that life anymore.

It’s fun, the music is fairly good, the teens attending the party have all surrendered themselves to the festivities and most were very nice. There were a few incidents, but Lip said it was her uncle’s house and her cousin had a group of jocks ready to throw out those people. Dahyun would find Chaeyoung and Sana from time to time and make sure they were all safe and still having fun, the japanese was taking good care of the small cub, but our tofu still felt better if he checked on them himself. Plus, the girls found it extremely endearing and Dahyun was all about the seduction game. 

At some point through the evening, Choerry had enough of waiting and decided to drag the other two into a room upstairs and have some private fun. The rooms were locked, only accessible for a select few, Lip was family, ergo, she had a key. 

“Alright, we should go through some rules.” Lip says when she locks the door.

“Good point, it’s important we know how each other feels.” Choerry agrees.

“I’d like to say I… I don’t have much experience.” Dahyun says shyly.

“It’s alright, Hyun.” Choerry coos. “We won’t do anything if one of us is uncomfortable.”

“That brings me to my first rule.” Lip chimes in. “We are not going to force anyone into anything.”

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.”

“I’d like to ask for you two to help me out with this.” The boy asks.

“And we want you to tell us if you get uncomfortable about anything.” Choerry tells him firmly. “Don’t think you have to force yourself to do anything at all. You feel like stopping, we’ll stop. Alright?”

“Okay.” Comes the shy answer.

“On that note, can we get this party started and figure it out as we go?” Lip eyes the two hungrily.

Choerry opens her arms and Lip lets herself fall into them, both colliding with Dahyun, who was sitting slightly behind them. The girls share a hungry kiss, and the boy is a little lost as to what he should be doing, until Lip notices and puts his hands on their waist, then guides his lips to Choerry’s neck. They start slow but figure it out together from there, but let’s leave them with their privacy and check on the others. 

Sana and Chaeyoung were having a lot of fun since they arrived, they walked around, made some conversation here and there, and people watched. There were drinks available, but both stuck to soda, the snack table was quite nice as well, nothing compared to Dahyun’s sandwiches, but still a nice spread. Speaking of the pale boy, he would show up from time to time to check on them, both were grateful, but also pushing for him to give the girls more attention, until Chae saw the trio heading upstairs looking too touchy and too giggly.

“Are you alright, love?” Sana asks when he notices his boyfriend looking at nothing specific.

“Oh, I’m great.” Chaeyoung smiles. “Just saw Dubs being pulled upstairs and the girls looked determined.”

Both share a hearty laugh at that.

“Well, now that we got rid of him, tell me if you want to go somewhere else or head back home.”

“Sacchan, I love you, but I’m quite alright here. How about we hit the dance floor for a while longer and maybe we can head back home so we can have fun in our own bed.”

“You are getting naughty.” Sana smirks. “Don’t stop.”

And so they do. The couple has a great time dancing, and when they have exhausted themselves, they grab some food before asking mr Bae to get them. Mrs Bae was the one to drive down and her husband was sitting in the passenger’s seat with an ice pack on his left knee. Turns out, he thought it would be a good idea to play shuttlecock with the boys and his knees vehemently disagreed. The boys tell the couple Dahyun was still busy and Chaeyoung had sent him a message saying they were heading back and he should just have fun.

Mr Bae, as the co-pilot, also messages his son, telling him to not worry and call if he needs anything, but that he should just be a teen and have fun. It was Dahyun’s first time doing anything like this, and he had THE TALK with both parents, together and separately, then with Seungyeon, then with mr Chou, he knew what he was doing and had what he needed to be safe.


	60. How to relax in the nature

So, Tzuyu loves Jeongyeon, he really does, anyone who sees them together understands they were made for each other. But one thing Tzuyu wishes was different was his boyfriend’s tendencies to go overboard whenever he was having fun. They had gone camping with both families, it had been planned for a while, the parents coordinating to get a few days off together and both Seungyeon and Sujin being told to just deal with getting the trip days off by themselves (it really wasn’t a problem).

They could be  _ camping _ camping, but with ten people, mrs Chou and mr Yoo found it better to rent out a small cottage rather than having them all set up tents to sleep in. First, the Yoo girls and their boyfriends had zero skills to set up and take care of a tent, then the parents were too old to sleep on the ground for four nights and get out unscathered, Jeongyeon and Tzuyu had been boy scouts and knew how to handle themselves, but they also didn’t like the idea of having to ruin their backs if they could avoid it.

And by ‘small cottage’ I mean one of those big camping area dormitories, they did need, at least, five bedrooms, a few bathrooms and a big living room. Neither the Chous nor the Yoos were complaining, both couples had always enjoyed having big families, mrs Yoo and mr Chou came from big families and, despite restraining themselves, grew up enjoying full houses. When they arrived, the Yoo girls had claimed the upstairs rooms, only to be thrown out by the parents as the rooms in question were the ensuites. But there were two other rooms upstairs they the girls begrudgingly dragged their boyfriends to, complaining under their breath about it the entire time.

Jeongyeon and Tzuyu were left with the one room downstairs, the girls didn’t want it because it was just beside the big living room and there could be a lot of late night and early morning noise, their parents didn’t want that room because they wanted the ensuites, obviously. But it was the biggest one and had a view of the lake, with a lot of natural light and a complete bathroom just beside it, the boys were overjoyed that the girls didn’t even spare a glance before dashing upstairs. Tzuyu was clearly the one who loved animals the most, but Jeongyeon loved nature as a whole, he loved being in the mountains, smelling the grass and the trees, breathing the fresh air and getting his hands dirty.

Tzuyu knew this was paradise for his boyfriend, to be able to wake up with the sunrise, open the window and smell the morning dew, to wake up, open the door and let the dogs run free in the grass. Jeongyeon always did a lot to please the younger boy, he got into summer school just to spend more time with Tzuyu, despite not needing the extra work at all, he got a summer job at a bakery because the younger one loved pastries. Those were just two things the older boy did and only this summer, all the time Jeongyeon tried his very best for the younger one, and it’s not like Tzuyu didn’t also tried his hardest to pamper his boyfriend, but he always felt lacking in that department.

Mr and mrs Yoo knew their youngest had been a bit stressed lately, with his best friends both in trouble, the lack of feedback from the colleges he had been trying to get a scholarship at, Tzuyu skipping a grade and being unsure of how to handle the transition. Jeongyeon was always one to internalize everything, trying to find a way to handle things on his own, thinking he would be bothering if he reached out to someone. The fact that he grew up with two very needy and very vocal sisters, and with both parents working, might have helped enforce the idea that he had to handle things all on his own.

  
  


Mrs Yoo and the girls also loved getting out of the busy city life, but this trip was mostly about Jeongyeon resting and, hopefully, opening up about his problems. Tzuyu had talked to his parents, asking them if they could go camping by a lake or something during summer because he wanted to do something nice for his boyfriend. Mrs Chou was happy to help right away, fishing her phone and texting the other couple about camping with the boys, while mr Chou cooed over his son and how cute he was. Tzuyu, then, explained how the older boy loved nature and how he had been bottling up some stress late and needed to relax for real before summer break was over. 

Both boys had already finished their summer work, done the readings to prepare for the beginning of classes and even began studying for the college entrance exams, they had even coordinated and came up with a schedule for the school year. Realistically, they had absolutely nothing else to do for the rest of their summer vacation. The adults couldn’t spend the whole two weeks at the lake house, but they came up with a great plan. They two families would spend four days all together there, then the Chous would take the first five days and then the Yoos would come back and take the last five days. It was a pity the sisters could only get two days off and weren’t able to stay past the first four days, but it was nice enough everyone was able to gather like this at all.

“Talk to me.” Tzuyu asks, coming up behind the older boy looking at the lake.

“This is very nice, you know.” Jeongyeon stretches his hand to invite his boyfriend closer.

“I’m glad you are enjoying it.”

“We are in the middle of the mountains, right by a lake and we are staying for the rest of summer break, of course I’m loving it!” The shorter boy exclaims.

Tzuyu giggles and hugs Jeongyeon tight. They remain in silence, watching the morning sun shining upon the lake and hearing the dogs playing freely somewhere near. Jeongyeon loved this kind of life, but after a while together, Tzuyu learned to enjoy this as well. Maybe in the future they can get a small house in the mountains and Tzuyu can work with the farmers around, and Jeongyeon can open the pharmacy he always talked about back when grandpa Yoo was still alive and the boys went to visit him. The old man lived in a very small village that didn’t have it’s own pharmacy, so they had to go to the nearest town for it.

Yeah, a calm life with some dogs and being able to enjoy mornings like this didn’t look too bad for our twin towers. But that would be in a few years, perhaps more than a few, right now, they should head back inside and check if everyone has finished settling in, and also ask around what everyone was thinking about lunch. If they were fishing, they should head out right away, if it was a barbecue, they should start the fire, so on and so forth. Plus, there was some loud talking happening and the boys wanted to watch whatever was happening. Seungyeon and Sujin together for too long was bound to end in a fight, sometimes they would swing at each other as well.

One might think it was a problem and nobody should resort to violence, especially girls, like that, but this was the way the girls developed to get everything out of their chest and settle their differences. Why was Jeongyeon so peaceful towards his sisters, then? Because grandpa Yoo drilled in his head from an early age that he was to never raise a hand against a woman, no matter the situation, and his sisters loved and pampered him too much. He was the youngest, the only boy and a lot younger than both his sisters, he was practically their living doll during his early years, which also contributed to Jeongyeon’s taste for ‘traditionally’ female clothes. 

Tzuyu found it incredibly cute and endearing whenever the older boy felt like fluffy skirts and heels, not to mention Jeongyeon’s ass looked amazing in heels and our taiwanese giant would never say no to that. The fight, however, was between mrs Yoo and mrs Chou, both women wanted to make lunch and neither was agreeing with the other about what to make. Mrs Yoo wanted braised pork and mrs Chou demanded fried fish, both very good choices, but they would have to compromise with one. They could solve that between themselves, so our boys headed out to the back, finding Seungyeon and mr Chou preparing to go fishing. They did bring some, but nothing like the taste of those you freshly caught yourself.

“Jeong! We are heading into the lake this afternoon, you coming?” Seungyeon asks, not stopping whatever she was doing.

“Absolutely!” The boy beams. “I’ll prepare my stuff later, though. Tzu and I are going for a walk around the lake.”

“Have fun and be careful about where you step. Also, bring a radio, it’s never bad to be cautious.” Mr Chou advises.

“Good thinking, dad. I’ll go get it.” Tzuyu says as he jogs to the house to get the radio.

Jeongyeon stays talking to his fishing companions while his boyfriend gets them, not just the radio, but also a few energy bars and water. Although Tzuyu loved sportive fishing, and went out with Jihyo and Sana to practice it, he wasn’t very fond of this fishing for funsies his father enjoyed, but Jeongyeon loved it, sure, the older boy went mostly to watch nature from the middle of the lake, like a 360 postcard but real. So, Tzuyu would be staying behind to busy himself around the house, maybe finish unpacking their bags and getting them settled in their room, not wanting to risk one of the girls demanding they switch with them.

“Now, let’s talk.” Tzuyu prompts, once they are out of sight on the forest trail.

“We talk all the time, no?”

“We do, but we don’t? I know there are things you don’t say and mostly it’s because you don’t want others to know, but we are engaged and I really wanna marry you, and I’d appreciate it if you talked to me honestly.”

Jeongyeon huffs and drags a hand through his hair, Tzuyu was right, but he has a lot of difficulty to open up about his feelings. The older boy, however, slightly tightens his grip on his boyfriend’s hand and tugs him closer, his way of saying it was alright and he would try. The young couple had arrived at a clearing, near the water and full of little wild daisies scattered around, the scenery was beautiful. Tzuyu, as the hopeless romantic he was, liked immortalizing everything, so he got out his little tripod, placed his phone correctly and headed over to where Jeongyeon had set their towel down. The pictures? Technology is really magical, and a simple smart band helped not needing to walk over to the phone nor set a timer.

The boys sat in the shade and enjoyed the fresh mist coming from the lake, the little critters venturing out around them, the sound of the wind rushing through the trees, and, most of all, just being with each other. It was one of the rare moments when neither had to think about anything, nor worry about what was happening in the real world. They stayed for who knows how long, Tzuyu taking pictures here and there, he even changed the phone location a few times to get more angles. It was a nice time, until Jeongyeon started getting really hungry and they decided it was better to just head back.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright when I go out fishing?” Jeongyeon asks as they near the house.

“I’ll be fine.” The younger boy assures. “But, if you feel bad about it, I’ll take early cuddles tonight.”

“I can definitely do early cuddles.” The older laughs. “But you know Sujin is planning a bonfire and will throw a fit about us leaving early.”

“Let me handle your sisters.” Tzuyu dismisses the worries. “You just get those arms ready and get yourself smelling great and don’t worry about anything else.”

“Just don’t terrorize my sisters.” Jeongyeon sighs.

“I’m not making any promises.” The younger one smirks devilishly. 

“Why do I love you again?”

“Because you want this sexy body and can’t live without my cute face looking at you only.”

“Yeah, that’s about right.”

The boys laugh and enter the house, it seemed like lunch was produced, and none of the options they had left their mothers with was chosen, Seungyeon pointed at mr Yoo when she saw the boys’ questioning looks, that explained the cold noodles and beef with broccoli, the man loved to make it, especially when he was making it for a lot of people. Good thing as well, since they could have ended up without lunch if the two women had been left to their own devices, it has happened before, it was a difficult day.

When lunch was over, Jeong and Tzu took the first shift of doing the dishes, things always did escalate after the first meal whenever the two families got together, and taking the first dish duty was the best choice. That meant that they would be exempt for the rest of the weekend, and wouldn’t be dragged into the cooking war their parents had already started, all their parents took great pride in their ability to pull off big meals with finesse, and each meal would become more elaborate and bigger than the last. Usually nobody wanted to take the first turn, they were still settling in and tired from the trip, our boys had already understood the patterns in their families and maneuvered their way through the easier paths.

When done, Jeongyeon dragged them to the back porch, with two steaming cups of tea, so he could prepare his fishing gear in time to head out into the lake. It was a very calm time, the two boys talking calmly with each other, sipping their tea and enjoying the piny breese. Mr and mrs Yoo were out front, probably talking to the couple in the next cottage over, mr and mrs Chou had decided to take a nap, Seungyeon and her boyfriend went to unpack, despite the boy having a point when he said they were just staying for four days and there was no point in actually unpacking, Sujin and her boyfriend went out for a walk around the lake. Sujin would be radioing in soon to ask for somebody to go and get them, probably Tzuyu.

All in all, things were shaping up to be a great summer vacation. Everything our boys needed to take their minds off everything and truly enjoy summer vacations.


	61. The last of summer

So, while everyone else was, pretty much, free to do as they wanted, Kim Yerim had been grounded for the rest of his high school life and was destined to spend his entire summer vacations trying to not flunk. He did study during the school year, but it was never for too long and never enough, but he was hopeful that he could scratch by like always. The problem was, the teachers had warned him in the beginning of the year that this would be his last chance and, if he didn’t take school more seriously, he would be held back and quite possibly have to repeat the year.

That’s how we have our devil child spending every single day, when he could be out and about with his boyfriend and their friends, inside a classroom with information being shoved into his brain by completely disappointed teachers. Only to get home and be watched like a hawk by one of his parents while he spent the rest of his time before dinner studying on the dining table. Mr and mrs Kim had worked out a schedule where every couple of days one of them would be home early and make sure their kid was doing what he was supposed to have done during the year. Seulgi helped a lot, bless his heart, he signed up for a few classes, ones that didn’t coincide with his football training, just so he could show some empathy.

Now, while Seulgi did offer all his support, he still had other business to attend to, and would have to head out into the countryside to visit his grandparents, as he did every summer, and that’s how we got Yeri almost getting his brain melted because, without his boyfriend, he had no way out of putting everything he had in his studies. It was a nightmare, and Yeri was being tested constantly, not to mention the endless papers he had to write and the amount of studying he had to go through. Seulgi, however, was in Angdong, enjoying his family’s farm, paying in the river and ‘bulking for the first two weeks of training’, as he put it, Daniel was there too, and his posts showed the truth our bear had been trying to hide from his boyfriend, that is was amazing and a lot of fun.

But these two were fine, going through a rough patch and likely about to be separated at the end of the school year, as Seulgi would be, hopefully, heading into his first year of university and Yeri to his last year of high school. Sure, the younger boy would be the only one behind in their friend group, seeing as Chaeyoung and Tzuyu, the two who shared a grade with him, had managed to raise their grades enough, for long enough to skip a grade, it just happened to be their sophomore year. And with all the boys in their last year, everyone was bound to be busy with entrance exams and trying for scholarships in their desired universities. Yeri knew he had to pick up his slack as well, so forming a new friend group crossed his mind, it never really went anywhere, however.

Now, during all of the dramas and misunderstandings and upsetness (I’m making it a word now), there was another couple, closer to the eye of the storm, that was also doing quite well for themselves. Seungwan and Joohyun were active expectators but were so well in their relationship that even being so close to the flames, they were managing to get out with only a few scratches. As many know, the storm started brewing when Jihyo decided he didn’t need to put in an effort now that he actually got the guy and began not trying at all with Dahyun. The younger boy had reached out, tried to come up with dates and surprise his, then, boyfriend only to see it all treated as nothing much, when he wasn’t being stood up, that is.

They felt for Dahyun, both had seen how much he liked Jihyo, and the effort he put into planning each thing he thought about for the two of them. They tried talking the younger one through it, and when their parents came up with the idea of a trip to Thailand, Seungwan was the first to try and talk the younger boy into going with them. Luckily, Dahyun’s good will had been worn thin and he accepted the idea right away. The trip was great, everyone relaxed and had fun and just allowed themselves, sure, the breakup was a little sudden, but it had been imminent for too long already. Not to mention, Lisa was a great host and didn’t hesitate to show them all the good spots tourists usually skipped, the fact that Dahyun and her had been smooching lifted their moods ever higher.

Towards the end of the Thailand trip, however, Seungwan got into an argument with his parents, the fact that there was a scheme to get Jihyo to Jeju behind the pale boy’s back wasn’t something he agreed on, so, himself and the Baes had been trying to fight it. The one mistake they all made and the youngest Bae was more than right to be mad at them about, was not telling Dahyun at all that he was about to be blindsided and put into a very undesired situation soon. Now, Dahyun had gone back to Seoul with mr and mrs Bae, leaving the air thick with tension, but the young couples had talked the night before Bae junior had left, and the boy told them they shouldn’t prive themselves of anything because of him, and an agreement was made, so they would enjoy themselves and worry about problems if they involved them directly.

That’s how we have Seungwan, Joohyun, Sana and Chaeyoung lying on the beach, bathing in the warm sunlight, sipping their cold drinks and completely ignoring how the adults kept muttering under their breaths about how ungrateful Dahyun was and how poor Jihyo was so down after coming all the way to Jeju only for the pale boy to have left without even sparing him a glance. Well, all they could really do was actually be on vacation and leave those who wanted to worry away from their minds. Things went fine, until about four days before they were supposed to head back home when Jihyo decided to stop moping around and actually do something.

“Hey.” Jihyo greets shyly.

“Hi.” Joohyun stops eating his breakfast first.

“Join us.” Seungwan offers a chair.

The former wrestler puts his food down and takes a seat, this was awkward already, but he knew he couldn’t keep sitting around expecting anything to change for him. Also, they would be back in Seoul with just enough time to prepare for the new school year very soon, it was either start doing something now, or start moving on and accepting he would never talk to the younger Bae again.

“We were wondering when you would decide to talk to us.” Seungwan prompts.

“To be fair, I didn’t want to be here as much as he didn’t want me here.” Jihyo defends automatically.

“You know you don’t have to defend yourself like that.” Joohyun reprimands, maybe a little too sternly. “You came here to talk to us, remember.”

“Sorry, I guess I’m just really on edge lately.”

“I’ll take the apology, but you can keep the excuse.” The pale boy grants.

“Now, honey, play nice.” Seungwan chuckles and kisses his boyfriend’s cheek. “Well, Ji, we are here and willing to listen to you.”

“Thanks.” Jihyo sighs. “I know I should have been better, treated him better, but I can’t understand how everything crashed like this.”

“You answer will depend on who you are asking. If you want Wannie to tell you what he thinks, you are going to have a more mellow and less complete point of view, but if you want me to tell you about it, don’t expect me to mind my tone because it might hurt your feelings.”

“That bad, huh?!” Jihyo huffs. “How about I ask both of you and get punched with the truth so I can start doing something already?”

“Good choice.” The older Son encouraged.

“Look, I know I messed up, but I can’t understand all these things Dahyun is doing.” Jihyo huffs frustratedly.

“Ji, I think you should shut up now.” Seungwan advises as he tightens his hold on his boyfriend.

“Just lay it on me, Hyun.” Jihyo asks.

“You left him to fight for your relationship alone. You were oh so busy doing whatever that your boyfriend took the backseat, if he was still even in your life at all. Dahyun was the only one still thinking your relationship meant something while you had time for anything else that wasn’t him!” Joohyun spoke so angrily that he drooled a little, his eyes seeping murder.

“I thought-”

“You thought what? That after he agreed to date you your work was over? Or that he was just gonna sit pretty and wait with a smile for your whims? Maybe that acting more like a boyfriend to that Kang kid than to your real boyfriend was the right thing to do? Perhaps being overly invested in that damn cat was better than giving Dahyun any attention at all?”

At that point, Joohyun had gotten so worked up that his face had morphed into something Jihyo wished he would never be in the receiving end of, ever again. It’s not like the oldest Bae had screamed or made a scene, in fact, they were still being faintly ignored by everyone else around, but his demeanor and low voice were utterly frightening. Seungwan just looked at his best friend with sympathy, before dragging his boyfriend to their room upstairs, once inside, he locked the door and took the key out. Joohyun wasn’t the physically violent type, but he would crush a bitch’s soul smiling if he had to, and he would do it without a second thought for his little brother.

Jihyo was left behind to process everything, all of those were things he could, now, see he did do, but at the time he didn’t pay it any mind. Maybe Joohyun had a point, did he really lose interest and stopped making an effort once they were an official couple? Yes, he did. But he never noticed any of it while he was doing it, and thought all of the warnings everyone gave him were just them worrying over nothing. Now he was hit in the face with the fact that he did all of this to himself, and couldn’t even ask anything else from his ex boyfriend if he didn’t show just how sorry he was and how much he was willing to work for forgiveness.

Park Jihyo was ready to own up to his mistakes and accept any outcome they brought him.


	62. Back to school, things are different

“Jihyo, can you come here a second?”

“Just a moment, dad!” The boy shouts back, taking a second to save his work before heading down. “What happened?”

“You remember Chorong, right?” Mr Park wonders.

“Of course I do! It’s been too long since I last saw her, how is she?”

“Seungmin called and they are all fine.” The man explains. “I called you here because she will be attending your school this year.”

“Well, it’s my senior year, so I’ll be studying a lot, but I’ll make sure to take good care of her!” Jihyo gets very excited.

Mr Park just laughs and dismisses his son. The pair had been close all their lives and Jihyo and Chorong haven’t seen each other in a good while, ever since Chanyeol had been officially out of the succession line and Seungmin had to step up after his brother. That was over five years ago, Chanyeol had been away from his parents for many years before that, but the legal procedures kept dragging on, old man Park wanted to make absolute sure that his embarrassment of a son and anyone that was connected to him wouldn’t be able to even sniff his money. With that, the legal protections took way too long to be completed.

  
  
  


“Hey, Hyun?”

“Yes, Hyunnie?”

“Is the iron with you? I gotta get my uniform ready for tomorrow.”

“Not today, I think dad has it.”

“Thanks, Hyun! I’ll go look.”

“If you find it, I’m next in line!”

“Gotcha!”

“Bae Dahyun, did you hear me?”

“BAE JOOHYUN, STOP SCREAMING AT YOUR BROTHER!”

“Sorry, mom!”

  
  
  


“Everything ready?”

“Hey mom, I’m almost finishing up.”

“You know your cousin will be attending your school this year, right?”

“You mentioned something about that, it’s a pity that Rongie is so much younger, I’ll only get one year with her.”

“She’s really excited to see you. Just take good care of her, alright?”

“Of course I will, mom. But I can’t promise anything during the first two months.”

“Park Sooyoung!”

“I gotta find the new captain, and then the team will vote for my replacement and then I’ll have to train him in all my tasks and then I’ll have more time, but I’ll have to keep focusing on playing if I want to keep the colleges interest.”

“Calm down, son. I know your first few months will be hectic. And it’s not like Rongie really needs anyone looking after her.”

“That she sure doesn’t. Also, mom?”

“Hmm?”

“Have you seen my necktie? I was certain I put it in the uniform pocket before we went to grandpa’s place.”

“Oh, that….”

“Mom?”

“Your father kind of needed a blue tie today and couldn’t find one without a pattern, so he remembered you had your new tie and it was exactly what he needed.”

The boy sighs. “As long as it’s clean and ironed, as I left it, by tomorrow morning, it’s alright.”

“You are the best.” The woman leaves with a bounce on her step and a kiss to her son’s head.

  
  
  


“Oh, thank god you’re here!”

“Hello mrs Kim, I came as soon as you called.”

“Just, please get that child to fix his uniform and bag for tomorrow? I’m about to lose my patience and you know I’ll hide the body so well not even Jesus will find that boy!”

“I’ll do my very best.” The boy chuckles. “You know I can’t promise anything, though.”

“I know, but I trust you’ll do better than I did.”

They laugh a little and the boy heads upstairs.

“You know, your mom is about to not be a mom anymore.”

“Hey, Seul! I’m guessing she called you here?”

“Hey, Yerm.” The older boy chuckles. “So, why is she so mad?”

“As usual, I can’t decide where to begin and end up not doing anything.”

“Then let’s put your books away and start there.”

Yeri just silently stands and kisses Seulgi before heading to his study table.

  
  
  


“You ready for tomorrow, son?”

“Oh, yeah! I’m just worried about Chaeng, though. He was very nervous this morning.”

“Why didn’t you bring him over, then?”

“Dad, did you ever see Chaeyoung with your own eyes?” Sana chuckles. “There was no way he was going to last half an hour training with us.”

They laugh and get back to their sparring.

  
  
  


“Should we really be here right now?”

“Sweetie, you  _ have _ to relax.”

“Yeah, and we are all ready for tomorrow, don’t sweat it.”

“You are always too relaxed, Jeong.”

“I know, Minnie, but one part of the relationship has to be. Look at Tzu over there.”

“I agree that he needed to calm down, especially with all the skipping a grade thing, but did we have to come to a puppy cafe?”

“Sweetheart, be quiet and eat your cake. We all know you love gushing over Tzutzu with puppies.”

“Minnie, you are lucky you are cute, because I’d totally whoop your ass for revealing my secrets like this.”

“Like it was any secret to begin with.” Jeongyeon declares and starts laughing, Mina following right behind.

Nayeon just huffs and eats his cake while watching how cute Tzuyu is being buried in puppies.

  
  
  


“You two are ready for tomorrow?”

“Yes, dad.” Both boys answer together.

“And there is nothing else you have to do?”

“No, mom.”

“And you sure, sure that we can be eating shaved ice like this?”

“Mom, dad, Chaeng and I got everything ready this morning, and triple checked everything.”

“And we also made sure our uniforms are washed and ironed for tomorrow. Don’t worry, Wannie had some great tips about doing our laundry.”

“Dating Joohyunnie has its perks.”

Mr and mrs Son chuckle lightheartedly, then they all go back to small talk and shaved ice while sitting on their front porch and watching the street.


	63. Get your hands off my cousin!

Park Sooyoung was known to be cool and a little unreachable, the strong and handsome football team captain that had many competing for his attention, and just about as many wanting to be him. Truthfully, he was just a big teddy bear and gentle to a fault, but once his little cousin was involved, he would switch to a cruel and relentless persona that very few had the chance to experience. Chorong was like a little sister to him and he decided he would protect her from the world at any cost, that meant he would often overreact and make a mess.

Now, what Chorong knew but her big scary cousin didn’t, was that their other cousin, not so big but equally scary, also attended the school they were enrolled in and she was very excited to meet him again after so many years. Jihyo wasn’t big and looked incredibly cuddly when he smiled, but the boy could throw a mean punch when he needed to. Chorong, in turn, was just sunshine and rainbows, she had always been a happy child and grew up looking at the positive side of things even in the darkest times. When Chanyeol had been disowned, the girl was sad about not being able to see her small cousin and her fun uncle and auntie as much anymore.

Jihyo always made a point to call Chorong and talk to her whenever possible, which wasn’t that frequent, he loved his little cousin like a sister and wanted to make sure she was doing well, despite not being able to see her anymore. The girl had been ecstatic since she knew she could go to school with her two big bros when she came to the right age, and had been too excited from the day she got accepted. 

Now, since the week before classes started, Chorong had checked her supplies, washed all her uniforms, ironed them herself, then re-checked the supplies, shined her shoes, ironed her socks for the sake of it, shined her backpack, then had her mother tell her it would stain her clothes and learned how to remove leather grease and make her backpack shine without it. Her father had been offered as tribute (her mother had an innate ability to disappear in times like these) and was stuck walking the route to and from school twice a day, everyday, so the girl could be certain she wasn’t going to get lost. All in all, she just wanted classes to begin, to meet new friends and see both her cousins, especially Jihyo, whom she hadn’t seen in so long.

The first thing the students are asked to do is find their classes and head to orientation after they leave their backpacks in their lockers. Chorong was bouncing around, barely able to contain all the energy about to blow, she got a few weirded out looks and a few complaints about the feet she stepped on, but nothing that she allowed herself to bother her. The ceremony began with the vice-principal giving the usual warnings, explaining to the new students where to go for each problem and introducing the headmaster, who proceeded to give a speech about school life and how it’s good to enjoy but they should remember to be responsible at all times and reach out for the teachers whenever they needed to, because they were all there to help.

Everything was pretty scheduled, nothing the older students didn’t know about, maybe that was why the seniors weren’t paying that much attention, Chorong noticed, then it was time for the school council president to speak, and that caught the girl’s full attention, Park Sooyoung, student council’s treasurer, stepped up to explain the schedule drawn for the school year, the predicted events and how things would progress and how the budget for clubs would be decided in a meeting with the captains later in the week. After that, the student council president took over with a short speech about welcoming all new students and asking them to find any official if they had problems, suggestions or complaints about school.

Everyone was dismissed and asked to head to their homerooms, where the teachers would go over a few final informations and then everyone was free to head out. Chorong just wanted to find her cousins because she missed them too much, so, once the teacher dismissed them, she bolted towards the student council office to try and find the first one, it would be easier to locate the other with help. Sooyoung wasn’t there yet when she arrived, but the vice-president gave her some tea and asked the girl to wait on the couch as he had already texted the other boy who said he was on his way. 

“Now, Rongie, why are you in such a hurry to meet your favorite cousin?” Sooyoung asks, but opens his arms with a bright smile.

“Sooyoungie!” The girl jumps up and lets herself melt into those strong and comforting arms.

“I missed you a lot, you know.”

“I missed you too, you big fool. Why didn’t you visit?”

“I’m the council treasurer, and captain of the football team.”

“Still!” Chorong pouts a little.

“How about I take you out for that coffee shop you love and we can spend the afternoon together?”

“I’d like that a lot.” She agrees easily.

“But before that, I have to go down to the field and talk to the team a little. Is that alright?”

“Sure!”

Sooyoung chuckles and both leave the council room after he hands in his report. The football team was supposed to gather to get their schedule for the first month, up until they vote for the new captain. The seniors were also with a lighter schedule so they could focus on their entrance exams, they would play, sure, but a lot less and mostly for important matches. This also gave the younger ones the chance to get used to not having the more experienced players around, as none of the seniors would be joining them for the last few games of the season at all, since it would also be exam time for them. Now, it was still very hot, and Sooyoung had to wear the full uniform to speak at the assembly, he just removed the extra layers as soon as they left the student council office, which was a rare sight, the boy was always very well aligned.

Once in the field, Sooyoung took the captain persona and guided his players through their schedules, reminding them that they should vote for the new captain as soon as next week and those willing to apply should prepare themselves. Chorong was very proud of the man her big bro was becoming, and ran to hug him tightly and tell him exactly that once he was finished. The thing nobody was expecting, however, was a fuming Jihyo marching right up to them, spinning the taller boy around and landing one of his best punches square in his nose.

“Get your hands off my cousin!” 

“What the fuck?” Sooyoung protests.

“Hyohyo?” Chorong is surprised.

“Sooyoung?” Jihyo is confused now.

“What the hell, Hyo? Why are you hitting me?” The captain asks.

“I thought some bloke was hitting on my little cousin.” Jihyo explains. “But what are you doing hitting on my little cousin?”

“Hitting on who?” The taller boy still doesn’t understand.

Jihyo points at Chorong, who is looking at him and trying not to cry, it’s been too long since she had him at arm’s length like this, and she was taking a while to understand this was really happening.

“That’s my cousin, Park Chorong?” The little wrestler points out.

“Nooooo… That’s MY cousin, Park Chorong.” Sooyoung seems to have gotten the pain under control.

“What are you talking about? She’s my little cousin, three years younger who just started here?”

“What are YOU talking about?”

“You two don’t really know each other?” Chorong decides to intervene.

“Of course we do! This is Park Sooyoung, captain of the football team, treasurer for the student council, looks tough but is incredibly nice and respectful, and one of my greatest friends.”

“This is Park Jihyo, star of the former wrestling team, national level athlete but also a genius. Part of professor Lee’s star trio, gives her a headache all the time but is really a sweetheart who is a little daft here and there.”

“Wait, you two know each other but don’t know each other, that’s it?” Chorong is unbelieving.

“Can you clarify what you are trying to say?” Sooyoung asks.

“Sooyoungie, this is Hyohyo, uncle Chanyeol’s son?” The girl explains. “Hyohyo, this is Sooyoungie, uncle Sangmin’s kid?”

Both boys are stunned and waiting for the information to process, sure, they knew of each other, but with Chanyeol being kicked out and everything that came along with that, the boys never really met each other as cousins, they just knew of the other’s existence, but that was about it. Chorong understood that they really had no idea about who they were to each other, despite being good friends, as it seemed. The girl was thoroughly entertained now, Sooyoung’s nose was very red and they should go to the nurse’s office to get it iced, but this was too interesting. Three boys approached them as the Parks were still frozen.

“Why did they glitch this time?” The pale boy asked.

“I thought Soongie would tackle Hyo after the punch, good thing I didn’t start a pool.” The squirrel looking boy comments.

“Now, be nice, you two.” The tallest of the three chastises. “I’m Kang Seulgi, these are Bae Joohyun and Son Seungwan, we are friends with these two and decided to come and ask when we saw them just standing there looking like derps.”

“I’m Park Chorong.” The girl greets happily. “Their cousin. Apparently, they didn’t know they were cousins until Hyo punched Sooyoungie because he thought Soo was hitting on me and he’s protective like that.”

“They are what now?” Seungwan chokes out.

“Cousins. Their fathers are my mother’s brothers.”

“But you are a Park?” Joohyun tries to piece everything together.

“Oh, my dad took my mom’s last name, something about business or whatever.” The girls throws uninterestedly. “But both just found out about each other today and roe like that.”

“I’ll get it.” Seulgi says. 

The monolided boy walks up to the pair still eyeing each other, raises his hands and punches both their heads. It works, and nobody can really be mad at Seulgi, so they just grumble and let it go. The friendly bear seems satisfied about the result he gets and goes back to the others.

“So, I heard you two just found out you are related?” Joohyun asks amusedly.

“Looks like we are.” Sooyoung mumbles.

“I’m sorry, Soongie. It’s just that I was excited about meeting Rongie again and got really protective when I saw her being so close to a man.”

“It’s okay, Hyo. I would have tackled you if it was the opposite.”

“You two really need to stop trying to hide me from the world, you know.” Chorong arches an eyebrow in annoyance. “Plus, it’s not like I’m single anyway.”

“WHAT!” The Park boys are riled up again.

“Oh, shush you both.” Seulgi decides to intervene. “She’s at the age to start dating, and it’s not like you both are ones to talk anyway.”

Both Jihyo and Sooyoung get very flustered and silent at that, Seulgi had a lot of dirt on both and neither was willing to allow anything to come to light. Chorong was intrigued, but she knew it wasn’t the right moment to say anything, also, she wanted to ask Seulgi alone and without the possibility of anybody stopping her from getting every last drop of information about her findings. What she didn’t know yet, was that Seulgi would tell her anything, she just had to ask nicely.

“Now, why don’t you two take your little cousin out to eat and then you can take me for some ice cream as an apology for this fighting.”

“Oh, I know exactly where to take you.” Jihyo says and smiles.

Then, the smaller boy guides his cousins away, after shouting a ‘see you later’ to their friends who were still watching and very entertained.


	64. Alright, senior year has begun

The first day was certainly hectic, but things fell into routine quite quickly. Despite the first week consisting of going over the syllabuses and most students drawing schedules for their year. The seniors who were in clubs had a laxer schedule and they would be leaving the extra activities before the competitions started. The Parks had spent the previous day talking and catching up with each other, Jihyo had taken them to his mother’s restaurant and the woman was happy to have her niece and nephew over, so much so that she cooked for them herself. Mr Park had arrived for dinner and almost gave his niece and nephew a stomach ache for how tight he had hugged them.

The other boys had busied themselves with their own things, each trying to figure out how to best spread their studies and whatever extra activity they had to submit for entrance credits. Our footballers were training the newcomers more than themselves, they would only be playing some warm up games and leave the team definitively once the season began, Sooyoung, however, was worried about his substitute, he had called for the election to take place right after selections had finished. Joohyun and Seulgi were helping him as much as they could, but their captain was still very stressed out.

Yeri was a bit lonely at cooking club, now that his last two, same age, companions had managed to skip a year and were also seniors. He understood it was his own doing to have barely managed to not flunk, but it was still a bit of a lonely feeling. Dahyun had been working on his pieces to submit for each college, he would be taking arts and wanted to, along with the entrance exam he would be taking regardless, try for the talent scholarships and those required him to submit a few pieces on different themes and styles. He had about three months to submit the first ones, three different schools with three different subjects, but it was manageable and he really wanted to get in, at least, one of those schools.

Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo would also not be competing with the chemistry club, they would be student-coaches for the team, but couldn’t really get invested in any competitions. Jihyo was aiming for an academic scholarship, so he would be studying much more, maybe get some early invitations if possible. Nayeon had been talked to by a few scouts and he wanted to take their invitations, he was just analyzing which school would offer him the best curriculum. Jeongyeon, however, wanted to try and choose the best college either with Tzuyu or close enough to him that they could move in together. The tallest boy hadn’t been expecting to actually skip a grade and hadn’t looked into any so far, but the couple was already searching and talking about it, they would do fine.

Mina, to nobody’s surprise, was approached by Yonsei to dance for them. Nayeon wanted to try there too, but he still hadn’t heard from them. Also, the older boy would be playing a few games before season really began and he could still be approached there, maybe Yonsei would turn up, if not, he knew he had the grades to show for anyway. Sana and Chaeyoung, these two were in a bit of a boggle, the japanese wanted to go to an overseas college, mostly because he wanted to study robotics and chemistry and there weren’t any colleges that would allow him to take the two simultaneously in Korea. In all honesty, Chaeyoung hadn’t thought about what he really wanted, and now he had to think about wanting to go abroad with his boyfriend or not, so he started looking into the schools Sana was aiming for as well.

Seungwan and Joohyun were fine, they had already talked a lot and were aiming for the same places, it was only a matter of waiting for the acceptance letters and deciding where to go. What the group had noticed, however, was that Jihyo and Dahyun still hadn’t talked to each other and the pale boy took the fact that it wasn’t him who was in the wrong and he had become single to entertain new experiences, Choerry and Lip had also kept contact and they had been planning a few outings once they had gone through the hassle of going back to classes. 

Now, the thing that was supposed to happen, was still being awaited by mostly everyone. Look, they are all good boys, but the spirit of the gossip ran deep within them all. Plus, they wanted to be able to just hang out without worrying, and stop having to coordinate everything for Dahyun and Jihyo not to meet, or if they did, the younger Bae would be purposefully hitting on anyone available in the vicinity. They had to talk and, hopefully, fix things between them, it would also make everyone around them more comfortable. With that thought, we have Park Jihyo standing outside the Bae residence on a saturday morning after the first week of classes.

“You gonna be out there much longer?” Joohyun had lost his patience waiting for the boy to ring the bell.

“I’m mentally preparing, leave me alone.” Jihyo says but doesn’t meet his eyes.

“I’d love to leave you standing there all day long, but Wannie is about to come pick me up and I know he will take your side in whatever it is you are planning, and I’m absolutely standing up for my little brother.” Joohyun says coldly. “You either get in and face all the shit you did, or go away and don’t bother Hyun at all.”

“I’ll go in.” The visitor deflates.

“Take a seat on the couch. I’ll tell him you are here but I can’t make him do anything else.” The older Bae commands and leaves no room for arguing. “If he isn’t down in half an hour, leave. I don’t want to be forced to take action, and I don’t care that you are a wrestler, I’ll beat you to a pulp if I have to.”

Jihyo, having never seen this side of Joohyun, just gulps and nods, unable to actually think of anything to say at the moment. He disappears upstairs, there’s a door being opened and closed, and silence. The wrestler doesn’t know how long it is until the door opens and closes again, heavy footsteps come down and an angry Joohyun reappears.

“I told him you are here and that I gave it half an hour if he wanted to talk at all. Wan is already waiting for me, so I’ll leave. Do understand this, Park, you make things worse with my little brother, I’ll be your worst nightmare.”

The eldest Bae leaves after that, not caring for an answer. Seungwan is leaning against his mother’s car, waiting to open the door for his boyfriend with a bright smile that dims a little once he recognises that look. Joohyun had only ever looked like that once, and it was the first time Jihyo had blown off Dahyun to go out with Daniel. After that, the bitterness had settled towards the wrestler and never left, only grew. Seungwan was curious about what had happened, but he knew he had to lift his boyfriend’s mood before touching the subject or he would get the burn for it as well. They would be fine by the end of their date.

Back at the Bae’s residence, however, things were still tense. Jihyo had been keeping an eye on the clock, Joohyun gave him half an hour and the older Bae would definitely know if he exceeded his limit. Dahyun was in his room pondering about having this conversation at all or not, he could simply not go down at all, nobody could or would blame him for not wanting to do this. But, on the other hand, things have dragged on for too long already and it seems it became a bigger thing than it was supposed to. It was just a break up, but then decisions were made for him and he was disrespected on his decisions. Maybe he should just get it over with and hope to move on peacefully already.

Now, while that is going on, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had agreed to start supplementary classes as soon as possible, so we have Sana and Jeongyeon hanging out together as their boys were taking classes on their weakest subjects. It turned out that the older pair got along much better than anyone could have predicted, Sana was very kind, bright and cuddly, Jeongyeon turned out to be a lot less reserved than he thought he was, he loved getting hugged out of the blue and how Sana would just kiss him when he got too excited. It was also very nice that the japanese was a math and physics genius, they would have long study sessions while their boyfriends were in class.

Nayeon and Mina would join their studies most times, when they didn’t it was mostly because Nayeon couldn’t be woken up in time and Mina got snached and tangled into his boyfriend’s limbs and just gave up and slept. It happened more than any of the two wanted to admit, and they should really be studying harder, but it was comfy and what was Mina supposed to do? Say no? Though this would surely have to stop soon, if they wanted to be on schedule with their studies. The good thing, however, was that they had worked out the Japan crisis, Mina did a lot of groveling and Nayeon did his best to be a bit more forgiving about everything and they were fine now.

“Yeah?” The young japanese answers his phone.

“You two coming today?”

“I’m really trying to get him to not nap today, but I can’t say for sure.”

“Well, we are at Sana’s house, if you decide to work on your grades a bit. Take care Minnie.”

“Thanks, Jeong. I’ll try harder.”

“Don’t strain yourself too much.” The older boy chuckles heartily. “Sacchan and I can always go to you and kick that old fart out of bed.”

“Like you are that much younger yourself.”

“Myoui Mina!” There is an undignified gasp. “You are on thin ice, mister!”

“Love you, Jeong. Give Sacchi kisses from me too.” There is a grunt on the other side and Mina laughs. “Don’t act like you don’t like it, everyone knows nobody can resist when Sana wants to give love.”

“Fine, just don’t let him hear you.”

“Like he doesn’t know already.”

There is a humm from the older boy and they hang up. Sana was already sitting around the coffee table they would be using, on his pajama bottoms and thick glasses. Many would go wild at the sight, the boy was very well built, he was a martial artist after all, and his hair was slightly disheveled from the boy messing it up whenever he was thinking deeply. To Jeongyeon, however, the japanese looked very cute, his slight pout in frustration made him look even younger and the pen streaks over his bare chest reminded the korean of how clumsy the boy was and how many times he had failed on spinning his pen. It was always fun to study with Sana, his way of thinking was very unique and helped find solutions easier.


	65. Sooyoung gets great news

If there was one thing we’ve been rooting for, it was for Park Sooyoung to be freed from an arranged wedding with a woman who never loved him and can’t even respect his presence when they were supposed to be acting the perfect couple for high society’s eyes. Kim Taeyeon would attend parties with him and get a toy just to strut around and show him what the boy knew he would never have, her father would try and scold her and make everything worse. Whenever the woman was supposed to be around her fiance, she would take her toy, get everyone to a more secluded area and have her fun while Sooyoung was placed as a scout, making sure nobody interrupted her during something important.

It was hell, Sooyoung grew up watching his parents, another arranged marriage, but both had been dedicated to one another since they were told about the engagement and lived a very happy life. But Taeyeon wanted to be the stereotypical rich girl, she wanted to party, hop from bed to bed before the sheets could get warm, drink her allowance away and, when the mood hit her, get crazy on whatever else was being offered. 

The woman had been told she was to marry who her parents chose for her on her senior year in highschool, and she met Sooyoung during summer vacation, between highschool and college, to say she was surprised would be putting it lightly, she knew he was younger, but not that much younger, and he was good looking enough, but her will to get on her father’s bad side and not let herself be tied down outweighed any hint of attraction she might have felt. Mr and Mrs Kim had also come from an arranged marriage, despite their rocky beginnings, they had found a rhythm both enjoyed and started working better together, there wasn’t burning passion there, but the couple loved each other and had hoped their older daughter would understand she could be happy like they were.

It was a friday evening, there would be some beneficent event the next day and Sooyoung liked to prepare his own suit for those, he had learned with Joohyun how to properly wash and iron from his socks up to his tie (weirdly, his boxers too and they usually felt great). Public events meant he would be posing as his fiance’s spotter while the woman was getting off with whomever caught her attention that evening. He really just wished he could go and not have to be around her at all. Mr Park arrives early, as his son was in the kitchen, with his ironing board and too many clothes all around him, he always got a good load whenever he turned on the iron, to save energy he said.

The man had called his wife earlier that day and explained everything, then asked for some time alone with their son once he got home, he believed he should be the one to tell the boy and they should have a conversation where he needed to apologise for what he had put his own son through. Sooyoung was on his last piece of clothing, also the hardest to get just right, his dress shirt, it always brought a little frown to his forehead and the most adorable pout. 

Mr Park took a moment to watch, his son might be almost a man now and be much taller than himself, but times like this showed him it was still his baby boy, and that made his gut twist again when he thought about how much damage his narrow mind and business obsession brought to the person he swore to love and protect no matter what all those years ago, inside that infirmary as the nurse was immobilizing his broken wrist (who knew pregnant women would get that strong during labor).

“Sooyoungie?”

“Hey, dad.” The boy greets without losing focus. “You are home early.”

“I wanted to talk to you a little.”

“Can we do this here or would you prefer to wait a bit. I’m almost done here.”

“I’ll take a quick shower while you finish, then. Lord knows I hate meeting with the executives, I always come out smelling like those cheap cigars they love to smoke in public so much.” The man chuckles.

“Alright, I’ll finish here and wait for you in your office.”

“That would be great, can you make us something to drink too?”

“Sure, dad.”

Mr Park heads to his bedroom. Indeed, whenever he had meetings with those people who thought they were someone at all, he came out smelling like the cheap cigars and the bad whiskey those people loved to consume because they thought it showed status. Comedic, if it wasn’t sad, but that’s the life of business people. Now, mr Park didn’t want to waste too long, so he just took a quick shower, instead of his usual relaxing one, but some things are more important than his bubble bath at the end of the week.

Sooyoung finished with his clothes, put everything on the hangers and placed them in his closet, all with the utmost care. Then he headed to the kitchen and prepared a cappuccino and a hot chocolate before heading to his father’s office, warm drinks were always nice for serious conversations, at least that was what he grew up with. Mr Park came in not even five minutes after Sooyoung had settled on the fluffy armchair, the man enjoyed comfort, but he got business visitors at his home office every now and then and couldn’t really get a couch that was too comfortable. He had tried a few years back and it just seemed as an invitation for whomever was there to just lurk after they had discussed whatever they had to discuss.

“Oh, you did get us drinks.” The man says happily.

“Seven marshmallows, just the way you taught me.”

“And I still don’t understand how you insist on that bitter thing.”

“Don’t let mom hear you bad mouthing cappuccinos like that.”

“The worse she can do is hit me a few times, I think I can survive.”

Both laugh, and the boy knows his father must have something serious to discuss if he was making jokes before he spoke up.

“Well, son, I think I have some good news for you.”

“Let’s hear it, then.”

“Before that, I need to apologise.” The man gets teary eyed but clears his throat and powers on. “I’m so very sorry for everything I put you through. I was blinded by my own ambitions and let them harm you. I never wanted you to suffer like you have and I’ll forever carry that guilt with me. Please, please believe me when I say I’m sorry.”

“I believe you, dad. I’m not gonna say it’s okay, but we can work to make things better.” Sooyoung holds his father’s cheek gently, making sure they are looking at each other so he could transmit his sincerity.

“Thank you, that’s all I could have ever asked for.” Mr Park sniffs but manages to keep the tears in. “Now, to what I had to tell you.”

“I have been wondering about that. Mostly because mom isn’t home yet, and that means you asked her to leave us.”

“You know your parents too well.” Mr Park tries to scold. “But I asked her to give us some time because I was the one who did it to you, so I should be the one to tell you.”

“What deal did you make for me now?” The boy sighs defeatedly.

“Actually, it’s a deal I undid.” That peaks the boy’s interest. “You are now, and will remain free to be with anyone you want to be. Kim and I dissolved the engagement deal and you have nothing tying you to Taeyeon anymore. I know she put you through a lot and I’ll forever regret that, but you are free to be yourself now.”

“Thank you, dad.” Sooyoung sobs a little and lets his father pull him into his lap, just like the man used to do whenever he was upset growing up.

“You have nothing to thank me for, son.” Mr Park rocks them both slowly, and they remain silent until mrs Park arrives with dinner.

This charity event already felt different, Sooyoung had a little bounce on his step he had even changed his suit for the day, chose something less formal and that hugged his body better, showing off his broad shoulders and muscular arms, all these years playing football had to count for something. Mr Park had told the boy Taeyeon didn’t know about the engagement being off, and that mr Kim was apologetic for his daughter’s treatment of the boy and left it to Sooyoung to decide how he preferred to break the news to her.

Now, Sooyoung was truly a great guy, but he had been put through so many bad situations by his ex-fiance that he really wanted to get some revenge. He groomed his stubble, just a little shadow of a beard that grew overnight, spent quite some time to get his hair perfectly messy, wore his suit and made sure to align everything as the fashion industry demanded and sprayed on his favorite perfume. Now, smelling of roses and musk, he put a mint strip in his mouth just before he exited the car and made sure to pose for the cameras with one hand on his pocket, passing on the little rebel image that seemed to be so attractive. Indeed a fine young man.

The event was much like many others, the engagement ending hadn’t been announced yet, so people still asked Sooyoung about his fiance, which he deflected with ease, then he excused himself to go and talk to the other heirs around who were just as bored as himself. Kibum was the first familiar face he recognised and the two young men were talking about the dumb topics boys loved to discuss when a lovely young lady approached them.

“Noona, it’s been a while.” Kibum greeted with a warm smile. “This is Park Sooyoungie. Youngie, this is Choi Sooyoung noona.”

“You speak as if I’m an old hag when we are just a week apart.” The young lady scolded. 

“Pleased to meet you, noona. It’s a nice surprise to meet such a wonderful lady to share a name with.”

“See, Kibum? This is how you treat a lady.” She gives her friend a last slap for good measure. “The pleasure is mine. And I’d love to get to know you better. It’s rare to meet such a fine gentleman.”

“I’m sure Key would feel bad about that.” The youngest laughs.

“He’ll live. Now, how about you follow me to the bar so we can get a drink and talk a little more.” The woman doesn’t wait for an answer.

Kibum laughs, shakes his head and pushes his friend forward. He was the only one Sooyoung had mentioned about his engagement so far. Despite the boys mostly meeting in social events, they kept in touch and were really good friends, Kibum and Sooyoung were each other’s safe place in this cruel world of the wealthy and those who were still seeking it. Conversation with ms Choi was very pleasant, she was certainly born in this world and was a natural entertainer, our boy just let himself relax and follow the woman’s lead, they seemed to be a good enough match and it was a nice change for how these events usually played out for him.

Somewhere halfway across the room, Kim Taeyeon was fuming, she was a sore loser and would never allow that Choi bitch to get funny with HER man without putting up a fight. Sure, she didn’t want him, but she never saw him looking like that and it changed her views a little, she could have some fun with the boy and he would be good looking enough to pose for the pictures. The woman was entertaining her toys for the evening and she would need her lookout soon, so she excused herself for a while to go and get what was hers.

“So, he took the goat, shoved it into his hoodie and started claiming he was the one making the noises. Bu-”

“Sooyoung.” Taeyeon cuts the other woman’s story, giving her a curt nod. “Sooyoungie.” She greets the boy with a light and very fake tone.

“Taeyeon.” The other woman greets, finding the situation hilarious.

“What do you need here, Taeyeon?” The boy asks, not willing to let his new acquaintance be treated like this by his ex.

“Well, I just came to tell you I’ll be needing you soon.”

“I’m not available for you. Just go back to your toys and we pretend we never saw each other and go on our happy ways.”

“I’ll give you the signal when the time comes. Make sure to be discreet.” Taeyeon ignores what she was told and leaves after the warning.

The Sooyoungs watch her walk away and back to the arms of a girl they didn’t know, the girl was pretty and looked younger, but neither cared enough. 

“What was that about?” Choi asks.

“Well, I’m sure everyone here knows we were engaged?”

“Were?” 

“I got the news yesterday, so you just got a scoop, ms Choi.”

“Oh my, we surely have to celebrate.” The woman’s voice turns sultry.

“Nice try, but I’m still not drinking. Now, I’d be very grateful if you didn’t tell anyone about the break up.”

“Only if I get to know what she was talking about.”

“Well, she used to get her toys drunk and into somewhere more private, and I’d be dragged to be the lookout and make sure nobody interrupted them. I’d comply because if the news broke it would be worse to me and my family than to her. She’s known to be the playgirl type so not a single news outlet would pay her any mind.”

“Talk about being trashy.”

“I’m just glad I’m not tied to her anymore. All I could have ever asked for was this engagement being annulled. And now, I can get to know fine ladies like yourself.”

“Aren’t you a charmer. How about you take me out next weekend and I can show you how fine of a lady I can be?”

“If you don’t mind my driver taking us, I’ll be honored.”

“How about you put your number in.” She hands him her phone. “And I’ll pick you up instead. But you are planning everything.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

They laugh and keep talking, the boy finds himself enjoying his evening. Taeyeon is thoroughly ignored and they make their way to the balcony, spending the rest of the evening there. When it was time to leave, the woman gives our boy a gentle kiss and he couldn’t be happier about how his first kiss had played out. His satisfaction was enhanced when he saw that his ex had been watching and she was completely pissed about what she saw.

The Sooyoungs talk all weekend, and agree to watch the press conference about the engagement and partnership between Parks and Kims being finalized. They were at the woman’s apartment, snuggly cuddling in their tracker suits, eating snacks and enjoying the fact that Taeyeon had been forced to attend but Sooyoung hadn’t. It was fun, both had agreed to take the day off to watch and so that the boy could evade the press that would undoubtedly set camp in front of his school. The teachers had agreed it would be better if the boy wasn’t present that day for everyone’s safety.

Ultimately, Sooyoung just wanted to kiss the boy again and this would be as good an excuse as any.


	66. Welp, yall waited for it

Dahyun had considered a lot of things in the last twenty minutes, he had every right to stay in his bedroom and ignore the huge annoyance in his living room. On the other hand, all this anger was interfering with his work, and despite being able to begin the pieces he would submit, anger wasn’t something appealing in a painting with the theme ‘safe place’, which was honestly for the university he wanted the most, so he couldn’t mess it up at all. Three months for the first submission was, arguably, a fair time, but he was trying for multiple universities, suddenly, that time wasn’t enough anymore. 

Downstairs, Jihyo had been nervous, sure, he wasted too much time, and he would accept anything Dahyun decided, but hope was still there and he had to try. It had been twenty minutes and, despite knowing he would have to comply with Joohyun’s demands (the footballer could do a lot of damage, but his venom was what would kill anyone who got on his bad side), he was planning to just sit on the sidewalk and keep waiting no matter how long. Luckily, there was a door being opened and steps coming down the stairs a mere two minutes before he had to leave the house. Dahyun looked tired, and more mature since Jihyo last saw him, maybe it was the tension obvious in the boy’s eyes, but he was still as beautiful as ever.

“You can sit down, no need to stand.” Dahyun said as the other boy stood up to greet him.

“Oh- I-” Jihyo stuttered and sat quickly.

“Look, I really didn’t want to see you, but I can’t afford to keep this up.” The pale boy gestured between them. “So, we’ll talk, and then we both accept whatever comes out of it and move on. Agreed?”

Jihyo was really hesitant about agreeing, he didn’t want to just talk and leave, but he understood it wasn’t really a question. “Agreed.”

“Alright, you may start.” The younger boy sighed tiredly.

“First off, apologies are in order.” Jihyo stood up and bowed the deepest he ever had. “I’m so very sorry about everything I did that brought us here.”

“You don’t even know everything you did, do you?” There is a dark chuckle.

“I may not know it all, but I do regret all of it.” Jihyo doesn’t get swayed.

“I’ll accept your apologies.” Seeing a hopeful look Dahyun is quick to add. “That doesn’t mean anything but that, I’m just accepting it, I’m not forgiving you.”

“I understand.” The older boy nods and sits back down. “I’m just glad you accepted them. Also, I’d like to apologise for Jeju, my mother ordered me to follow her and when I least expected it, we were arriving in Jeju city.”

“Don’t.” The pale boy is cold. “You and I both know very well you could have done something to not go at all, you just wanted to force me to look at you. Much like you are doing today, the difference is, today I’m not as explosive as I was then and I have to get everything out to leave it behind. Consider yourself lucky I’m applying for college this year.”

“Fine, I wanted to go, but I wouldn’t have if I knew you would be stabbing me through the chest for three days and then leave.”

“You are trying to spin this on me now? Because that’s rich. I was a single young man enjoying Jeju to the fullest. You have absolutely no right to say what you just said.”

“I went there for you Dahyun, then I arrive to see you with those-”

“Careful now.”

At the warning, Jihyo rethinks everything he had to say about the girls in Jeju, he was indeed being unfair to them and the tone Dahyun had just used told him he better shut up before the damage is irreversible.

“Fine. But it still drew a knife through my heart and twisted each time.”

“Funny, because we were not together anymore then. But you seemed very keen on it while we were still supposed to be a couple. You did it first, but I had the decency to be single before that.”

“Now, you’re not being very fair.” A lie, and both knew it. “I didn’t cheat.”

“You don’t have to kiss or fuck someone to be cheating, Jihyo. And it doesn’t matter, everyone else believed you did, do you have any idea how degrading the comments were? Did you ever stop to consider how it would reflect on me? How I suddenly became the ‘poor boy who was loving someone who loved everyone else?”

“I didn’t-”

“Of course you didn’t. You can’t, can you?” The poison lacing each word chipped away a little piece of Jihyo’s heart, one at the time. 

“Look, Hyun, I didn’t want things to go like this, and I didn’t think-”

“Exactly, you never thought of anything or anyone besides yourself and your own greed. Look, Jihyo do us both a favor and just open your eyes to the truth. We both know when you are lying.”

“I was happy, alright? I was living new experiences and meeting new people and you wanted to spend time alone with me. I didn’t want to, so I didn’t.”

“Oh, so now it’s all my fault because I wanted us to, you know, date? I wanted us to be a couple for a few moments and that would be a damper in your unchangeable plans so you just decided to pretend you didn’t have a boyfriend?”

“I never said it was your fault, or any of that.” Jihyo was playing a dangerous game now, he knew this was about to blow up in his face, but he was getting angry, why was he the great villain? Dahyun must be guilty of something too, right? “You also stopped calling or texting me!”

“Do you have any idea of when it happened? Or even how many missed calls and texts left on seen there were before I gave up?”

“It doesn’t matter! You gave up too and then just decided to break up through a phone call? Was I supposed to accept it, just like that?”

“Oh, honey” There wasn’t a drop of fondness in that. “it matters the most. You had been ignoring me for anything else for months, Jihyo. You had hundreds of texts left on read, tens of missed calls, I had shown up at your door only to learn you were out with someone else countless times. And you what’s the worst about it all? I was lighting for our relationship for months, and I knew I was fighting alone, but hope was still there.”

“You talk as if you were the sole victim.” Now, this is where Jihyo lost any shred of reason he had left. “What about me?”

“What about you? You were doing whatever you wanted to do, you never considered me at all. You were moving on as if I was last week’s leftovers you forgot in the microwave. You just tossed me and went ahead.”

“Aren’t you being a little unfair here? I was in the relationship too, then you go to Thailand and break up for Lisa?”

“First and foremost, you were absolutely NOT in the relationship. You had walked out of our relationship long before I went to Thailand. Also, you will respect Lisa, she is a dear friend and helped me a lot. I didn’t break up with you for her, I tried with her because I had broken up with you. Never get those mixed up.”

Dahyun was seething, Jihyo knew he had just killed whatever was left of what they had but he refused to admit the truth. He couldn’t be the only one at fault here. He did admit that what he just said about Lisa was unfair, but he had to. 

“Still, you hooked up with her as soon as you hung up the phone.”

“I don’t know which version of things Seungwan gave you, but Lisa had been showing her interest in me long before we both got together. No need for that face, she was always very respectful and never crossed my boundaries.” Dahyun chuckled humorlessly. “I was fixated on you and she understood that, she was content with remaining friends. When I went to Thailand, she treated me so well that I opened my eyes and saw what we had as it really was.”

“And I wasn’t told she was interested in you, why?”

“First, I don’t have to tell you anything, get off that pedestal, it ain’t yours. Then, I knew how bad you are with respecting others when you think you are in the right. Lisa was always great, and she didn’t deserve your little jealousy fit.”

“Still-”

“Still, you aren’t listening to yourself. Look, she showed me what being treated right meant and I wanted to try it with her. But we had been good friends for so long that Thailand was just a way for us both to get the lingering feelings out of our system, we don’t regret a single second of it, but we both saw and agreed that it would be better to stay as friends.”

When Jihyo said nothing, Dahyun continued, he had to speak his mind and get it out before leaving it behind him.

“You know, Jihyo, you were a better boyfriend when we weren’t dating. But that’s neither here nor there, I just wanted you to know. You walked out of our relationship first, you left me first, you decided that I wasn’t enough first. Now, you don’t get to come here and throw a tantrum because I’m a toy you never wanted to lose. It will take some time, but I promise to let go of the bad feelings I have for you, but we can’t go back to what we had, any of it.”

“What do you mean?” Jihyo looks scared for the first time in the conversation.

“I mean you betrayed me, Jihyo. You broke my trust, my heart and my dignity. I can’t be your boyfriend at all, but I also can’t be your friend right now. Maybe I’m being unfair or selfish, but I have to think about me here. I have to put myself first and I can’t have you in my life like before anymore. We have the same friends, meeting you is almost inevitable, but I don’t want to be anywhere close to you anymore.”

“Are you serious?” The taller boy scoffs. “You are just leaving? Just like that?”

“It’s no different than what you did yourself months ago. But I’m ending things the proper way, not just ghosting you and expecting you to keep tied to me. Look, it doesn’t have to be harder than this, just accept the decision you made back then and I made back in Thailand and walk away. It’s the best for us both.”

“The best for you, you mean.” 

Jihyo stands up and storms to the door, Dahyun knew it would happen at some point, but he was glad he could get everything out before that. The pale boy really didn’t want to have this conversation again, so he followed quickly. As Jihyo was fixing his shoes, Dahyun had one last reminder.

“Don’t forget, we both accept everything here and move on. Don’t look back now, Park Jihyo.”

The last part was said with fondness, which took the wrestler by surprise, but he was stubborn, he rose to his full height and walked away without looking back. Dahyun was sad to watch the door close behind the boy he loved, but he wasn’t himself when he was with Jihyo, and he didn’t like that person. This was for the better, even if the other boy didn’t see it now. 

With a relieved sigh, Dahyun reached into his pocket for his phone and pressed the button.


	67. Trouble in the chem team

So, as seniors, our problem trio could choose to take part in the pre-championship competitions for the chemistry club, or just help them prepare. Jihyo had been a bit of a mess, so his choice was already set, and despite whatever they might tell you, Nayeon and Jeongyeon didn’t really feel motivated to participate if their little baby wasn’t going to. Yes, Jihyo will forever be that energetic little Kirby who ran up to them and declared they would be best friends for the older two. Sunmi was relieved, to be honest, she felt something was wrong, but the three wouldn’t give her any headaches for being too competitive.

That was the plan, at least. What people don’t really know is that Nayeon has an even shorter temper while ‘teaching’ than he has while ‘learning’. So, this year’s team was now being screamed at by an angry bunny because he already told them how to proceed with the solutions for the competition and the group had just ignored what he told them and proceeded to do as they were sure it would work. The thing is, the group was convinced they had to stick to the book’s guide, but some steps of the solution would take very long to be prepared, so Nayeon had printed out a copy of the recipe and made notes on what to begin with and in which order to prepare the components for the team to optimize the time they had.

Turned out, the team’s persistence in doing things wrong led them to exactly where the genius trio said it would. Sunmi was helping the other students with their own stuff, she just told Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo to run through an entire competition simulation with the new group and give them pointers to what they should and shouldn’t do. Jihyo wasn’t completely there, but he was trying his best, he was just way too calm and didn’t even react to the taunting about how his idea was stupid. Jeongyeon was reacting very well, however, and had bickered with Nayeon a few times, but he had also lost his patience with the other kids. I mean, the three knew what they were talking about, why aren’t the guys competing listening to them!!?!!

The competing team took three times the allotted time every single try and our favorite trio was livid, they were trying to help them out and optimize their process so they would be able to afford mistakes during the official competition. Not to mention, the team wasn’t even doing everything properly at all, their solution wasn’t even close to where it should be, and they insisted on not listening at all. Sunmi had been watching it, despite deciding not to interfere at the moment, she knew she would have to do something, and with the time they had, she might have to switch the members competing. The chem team, like any other team, had frontliners and understudies, and the teacher saw the understudies following what the trio was saying and getting to the best results possible, just like they were told they would.

“Alright, I think it’s enough for today.” Sunmi interferes before Jeongyeon jumps someone. “Everyone is free to go now. I’ll stay until the bell rings, if anyone wants to come and ask anything, I can help with your homework too if you want. See you all on thursday.”

She dismisses activities and goes to sit on her table. Some students come to her for help, others keep working on their activities and the chaotic trio, clearly frustrated, decided to just leave, maybe get some ice cream to cool their heads. Mina and Tzuyu were told to meet them there, both had been studying at the japanese’s house that day, and the group spent a good afternoon together. Jihyo seemed to cheer up a little as well, it’s not that he was completely down or something, but there was always that air of sadness around him. The group had noticed the same about Dahyun, but both boys were, somewhat, freer than when they were together, especially Dahyun, who stopped considering someone else before his own future.

The next club meeting came with a lot of surprises, some were angered, most were satisfied about Sunmi’s decisions. 

“Alright, kiddos. Listen up!” Sunmi calls for attention. “Having seen last meeting’s results, I talked to the principal and vice principal and we came to a few decisions regarding the competition at the end of the month.”

That caught everyone’s attention. 

“Seeing as the current front liners are unable to control their egos and listen to instructions, they are no longer competing at all. We are moving the understudies up and selecting new ones as understudies.”

The students who thought they would be the new chemistry idols were, obviously, ultraged. They started screaming and complaining and throwing a tantrum, all was quickly shut down by angry ms Lee. Angry ms Lee only came out once in a blue moon but she surely knew how to command obedience the moment she appeared.

“Silence!” The teacher demanded coldly. “The decision has been made by myself and the two highest authorities in this school. You are all relieved from your duties to the team starting immediately.”

Her tone even got Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo to be on their best behaviour. Not that the three had been too much of a headache, Sunmi understood how frustrated the boys must have been with being utterly ignored when they just wanted to help out. She had been frustrated too, and worse, she knew the team stood no chance if they kept doing this. 

“You want to complain, you can bring it up to the principal, the student office will be happy to hand you a complaint form. I want a team, and I want people who can listen, learn and have a chance to win.” She now refers to the former main team members. “You showed me last time that you prefer to throw the competition rather then listening to your colleagues who have done this before.”

“You prefer them, anyway.” One of the kids mumbles, looking at our boys, but it’s loud enough. 

“Well, ms Choi, this is a matter of who will understand this is a team and put aside their personal grudges, and who will simply throw a competition for it.” Sunmi proceeds calmly. “Believe it or not, Im, Yoo and Park went through the exact same thing when they first made the team. They listened to their seniors and took all the advice they could get. As you remember, we hold selections every year to determine who is on the team, and the three of them fought for their places just like everyone else. The tests are open for everyone after the results, so you saw with your own eyes that they earned their places.”

The teacher stands up and looks directly at the students who were complaining.

“I don’t take kindly to being accused of not being impartial with my work, ms Choi. Please refrain from that in the future, if you intend to continue in this club. Also, I’ll be requesting a meeting with your guardians about this behaviour. Anyone who isn’t willing to attend today’s meeting is dismissed. Those who choose to stay, we’ll start preparing the new team and selections for the understudies will be held on saturday.”

With that, Jeongyeon is the first one to move, prompting his best friends to follow and then the rest of the students. The new team was already very open to advice and took all of it gladly, the trio did have their own strategies that worked only for them, but everything flowed easily. The other students who weren’t yet part of the team were watching on the sidelines and taking notes, truth be told, the trio might have short fuses, but if you knew how to defuse their squabbles before they escalated, they were great to work with. Everyone ended up learning tips, not only for the competition, but also for studying as well.


	68. Yeri is a bit bummed, but he’s managing

With his entire friend group a grade above him, and he had been feeling a bit lonely since the year started. His close friends group was entirely a year above him and his last two companions had managed to move up a grade during summer vacation too, but he was an active guy and knew quite a few people, it’s not like he was alone, alone. But, seemingly, his last two friends taking a step forward he couldn’t follow was the push needed for our main troublemaker to get himself together and start taking things more seriously.

Seulgi, the ever loving and patient bear he was, had been trying to help out as much as possible, but he also had his own things to take care of, not to mention being one of the football team aces and despite having already received some invitations from scouts, he still was waiting for an official invitation and still studying for entrance exams, he couldn’t just sit back and wait for what ifs, and that got him really busy. The good thing about this new school year was that Yeri was decided to improve his academics and the couple was spending a lot of time in the library or at someone’s house studying for everything they could think of.

“Yermmie?” Seulgi asks during one of their study sessions.

“Hmm?”

“How are you?”

“Love, we’ve been together all day. What are you talking about?” The younger boy chuckles.

“I mean how are you, really. I know we are all busy and all, but you are the only one not on their last year, and your two companions have just moved up a grade and all. I want to know how you are handling things.”

“Well, I was a little bummed when Chae and Tzu said they got to skip a grade, but it got me thinking about a lot of things, and now I’m just trying to pick up the slack and do better. Mostly for myself, because I know I’m the only one to blame for this.” Yeri answers truthfully, pausing a little in his work. “It might sound all mature or whatever, but honestly, it’s just that I know I was just too lax about my future. I’m alright, still a little lonely, but I’ll be fine.”

“I’m glad you are feeling better.” Seulgi smiles and shuffles to hug his boyfriend. “When you first got to know Tzu and Chae were advancing you were pretty sad.”

“I was, but then they didn’t really change anything about us and hanging out, and it’s not like we would be in the same class anyway.”

“What do you mean? It’s decided by drawing lots, no?”

“Oh, Seulbear, you are the cutest.”

Seulgi was really not understanding, as far as he knew, and Sooyoung had told him the same thing. All students were distributed through the different classes by luck. Yeri must have sensed his boyfriend’s train of thought so he laughed and explained further.

“You remember the bluemen incident two years ago?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“The teachers know Chae and I are behind it. They can’t prove anything, and we can’t be punished because there is nothing tying it to us, but they know. Since then, our names aren’t drawn, we are immediately separated.”

“And how does Tzu come into play?”

“Where do you think we got the ink?”

“Oh.” 

It’s all Seulgi says before laughing himself. They go back to their school work and, surprisingly, manage to cover quite a lot. The rest of the evening is spent cuddling after they get to bed and reminiscing about the infamous bluemen incident. It was epic and even other schools talked about it for months after.

It was something Yerim and Chaeyoung formulated in their junior year, it all happened because the lacrosse team rejected them without even allowing them to try out. It was extremely unfair and it only happened because the coach had to step out for a while to take another kid to the nurse’s office. The reason seemed to be that the captain’s girlfriend at the time said the duo was cute and he had been angry at them from that comment on. 

At the occasion, Tzuyu had gone along for moral support, he had been sitting at the bleachers and reading through some leaflets about student internships around the area. The whole ‘conversation’ lasted a few minutes, then the two boys returned very sulky and very angry and plopped down beside their tall friend.

“What happened? Aren’t you supposed to be trying out?” The youngest asked.

“Well, the captain is a dickhead.” Yeri blurts.

“Language!” Chaeyoung scolds. “But yeah, he’s an idiot. He said something about a girlfriend that we don’t even know and said we couldn’t try out at all.”

“That’s just unfair.” Tzuyu pauses his reading. “That calls for something just as unfair back.”

“Oh?” Yeri says with an evil mirth in his eyes.

“I think I have something, but we’ll need a few things.” Chaeyoung perks up.

“Just do your thing.” Tzuyu assures. “I got you.”

And he really did. During the time the tryouts were happening, Tzuyu got a hold of which water vault connected to the lacrosse locker room and the ink and shaving cream they would need. Chaeyoung had sneaked into the locker room and made sure the entire team’s uniforms would be given a good serving of shaving cream, with a special portion to the captain and vice captain for their kindness. Yeri was the one climbing up to taint the water blue and Tzuyu remained by the bleachers as a lookout. 

Once they were done, Chaeyoung and Yeri ran to the other side of the school and asked if they could try for the cooking club, both were insanely fast and had also showed up at the auditorium to check out the theatre club during the time it took Tzuyu to arrange their items. The taller boy also had his alibis, he had gone to the student council to turn down their offer for him to join, then he had a small chat with the biology club president who had also invited him but he wasn’t interested. His supplier messaged him he had left the items at the requested locations and he sent one message to Chaeyoung about the shaving cream and another to Yeri about the ink.

Then Tzuyu made his way back to the field, this time waving at the cheerleaders who approached him to tell him he was cute on the first day of classes and decided he was indeed too cute not to befriend, then he sat down, pretending to read his leaflets and keeping an eye on the lacrosse team, not forgetting to smile and wave at the girls when they looked at him. Our tall mastermind had also gotten the information the entire team had the habit of showering at the same time, something about post-game considerations their coach liked to give them all together. Once he got the message that the two halflings were far enough from the locker room, Tzuyu headed out to check the chemistry club.

The tall boy only went there because he had just started dating Jeongyeon and wanted to see him, but that’s not what we are talking about. So, once tryouts were over and the team had showered, they found themselves blue, then their school uniforms had been stuffed with shaving cream, so everyone could only put their smelly training uniforms back on so they could go home. The captain and vice-captain training bags had also been stuffed, so the two would also have to clean their entire equipment. The entire team was walking around and smelling minty for three weeks after that, any kind of high hose they had imagined for themselves had crumbled completely and the new recruits almost gave up joining altogether.

Word did go around about how cruel the captain and the vice-captain had been to two boys who wanted to try out, but once it came to light those two boys were Chaeyoung and Yeri, there was no way anybody could really pin it on them, they had been seen many other places while tryouts were taking place and, to those who didn’t know how fast they really were and how in shape they also were, it would have been impossible to pull the prank and be where they were. Tzuyu was also considered as a culprit, but he had been seen during the time the prank was supposedly taking place and too many people said it couldn’t have been him.

The teachers were confused and the lacrosse coach was furious, but what could they really do when there was no suspect. After the incident, both Chaeyoung, Yeri and Tzuyu used fountain pens with blue ink for as long as the players were still blue and minty. Everyone understood that as a confession, but what can the teachers really do about three students using fountain pens to take notes, there was absolutely no rule saying they couldn’t. The lacrosse coach tried to pin the incident on them for the remainder of that year but the principal had his hands tied, the security cameras had recorded nothing, there were too many witnesses of the three boys elsewhere in school and there wasn’t even a single print to tie them to the locker room.

Since then, teachers believed that separating the three would calm them down, but the five pigs incident with the theatre club during selections the following year told everyone the opposite.


	69. Football can be very emotional

Sooyoung was happy to have his little cousin finally join him in high school, and he was overjoyed to know his good friend Jihyo was actually the cousin he never really met, their family drama might have kept them apart, but they ended up being friends regardless, and now they could work on being close, like Chorong was to both. But it was senior year and things aren’t as lax as they used to be, and quality family time was something he couldn’t afford that often, and now we have the tallest Park preparing for tryouts along with his vice-captain Bae Joohyun. 

“How do we do this?”

“Well, Joonie, we could just go according to the script and do the same as last year?”

“You know how little I agree with that thing. Our seniors were good at playing, but they had never been really good at bringing out maximum effort in minimum time. I want something that will show us how their endurance is and what they are capable of without having them play for two hours after running around campus.”

“Yeah, our seniors were trained well, but they didn’t really know how to pick them.” The older boy laughs. “Remember Kim Changin?”

“Oh, don’t remind me!” A new voice speaks up.

“Hey Seul, you are late.” Sooyoung greets.

“I know, Yerm was having trouble with a physics problem and it took me longer than I anticipated to help him solve it.”

“I’m glad he’s picking up his studies again.” Joohyun says fondly.

“But now we gotta figure out something better for tryouts because we don’t want the Kimcident again.” Sooyoung adds with a touch of fear.

“Well, then we should start working something out. The team coming?” Seulgi rushes them to start working.

“They will arrive if they feel like it, but honestly, it’s supposed to be up to Joonie and I.”

“Then I’m here too and we’ll figure it out.”

The trio of footballers got working on coming up with something more effective in choosing the new players, they had to be certain the chosen ones would be able to perform well enough for the team’s needs. All in all, it would be their last official assignment as captain and co-captain, Seulgi was just always supportive all around, and both wanted to do this right. The seniors had decided to not compete at all this year, all of them wanted to dedicate more time to their studies, even if some had already received proposals from various colleges. 

Sooyoung would be attending Tokio U, something about his mother also going there and him wanting to follow her steps, he was already fairly fluent in japanese, having learned from an early age, and he had also seen a scouter form there in a few of their games the previous year. Joohyun was aiming for Yeonsei, he did get a sports scholarship, but he also didn’t really want to keep playing throughout college, he had a lot more to experience and wanted to have enough time for whatever new hobby he wanted to try. If all things failed, he would take the sports scholarship, but he wanted to try first. Seulgi had accepted his invitation from Busan University of Foregin Studies, and would be moving during the holidays, he would have to be there about a week before classes were officially over and the teachers had already set a schedule for students like him.

Yeri also wanted to attend college in Busan, but he would be trying for Korea Maritime and Ocean, he would also be trying for the National University of Education, but he really wanted his first option. Seulgi had helped his boyfriend figure out what he really wanted to do, and his choices were the main motivator for Yeri to start taking his education seriously, the younger boy had also decided to not take the test to see if he could skip his last year, he knew he needed more time to get to the level where he could take the test and get in. The brainstorming went well after their planned schedule, Sooyoung had decided to move the meeting to his house at some point and the other two just slept over, once mrs Park told them it was too late to go home already.

The next day, the entire team gathered and voted for the best ideas as to how their tryouts would go. It was decided it would take place the next friday, the only day the field would be free, the other clubs had already reserved it for their own tryouts. It was good, though, Sooyoung and Joohyun decided to take the team out for dinner and celebrate the new year starting along with announcing the new captain, they had the extra budget for it and the coach wasn’t at all against the idea. When the day came, however, the captain and vice-captain were very nervous, they had spent a lot of time planning everything so it would all be fine, but the pressure was still there. The previous year was when Sooyoung had been appointed captain, he had never planned everything like this.

Freshmen flooded the field when the time came, seemingly, their school’s reputation preceded them, and all clubs had a lot of applicants. Another thing Sooyoung hadn’t noticed until now, when he had to skim through the many candidates and pick out the best fitted. Now our captain duo understood when mrs Shin at the student’s office had laughed and told them they would, undoubtedly, need the field for the entire afternoon and advised them to begin as soon as possible if they wanted to be out of there by the time school closes. It was a tight schedule, but the team managed to test all candidates, Joohyun and Seulgi had quickly come up with a division among the players so they would all take different groups to make things faster.

Even with everything, tryouts ended at six, already too late, and Sooyoung was happy to have decided to bring the team for dinner, everyone was too tired and hungry after a whole afternoon of trying to evaluate the first years, make sure nobody was getting hurt, and write reports about those who stood out. They headed to their usual barbecue place, it had big portions and a fair price, the owner being an alumni himself, and always gave discounts for students of their school, they only had to show their student ids and would get 20% off. The man knew sometimes it was hard for highschoolers to have something nice, or be able to go on dates with the money they had, and he wanted to help them out, just like he had been helped when he took his girlfriends on dates back then.

“Gentlemen!” Sooyoung begins, Joohyun standing on his right side. “I’d like to thank you all for the help during tryouts today.”

The boys cheer and raise their glasses, just for the sake of it.

“Before anything, I’d like to say it’s been a great pleasure to stand beside you all on the field and be certain that each one of you was willing to give your all for me as I was for you. Joonie would like to say a few words as well.”

The team already had a few teary eyes among them, they all knew it was tradition for the captain leaving to announce the new captain right after tryouts. When Sooyoung had been announced, the team was showering, too many dangling bits for the boy to want to celebrate there. Later, Joohyun heard from the previous captain that it was just because Sooyoung was too gentlemanly and he just had to watch the boy lose a bit of his composure. With that memory, Joohyun begins.

“I know most of you just saw me as that cocky guy who ran fast.” There are a few chuckles. “And it’s kinda true. But I’m very honored to have been your vice-captain, it was amazing to play alongside you all and learn how we worked as a team, together. Thank you very much for all the moments I’ll never forget and wouldn’t have experienced without this team.”

Another round of cheers goes around and Sooyoung steps forward again to finish his speech.

“Well, here’s my last toast as your captain.” 

He raises his glass and they all hit their glasses with a bit more force, the strawberry juice spilling on the captain’s cuffs, certainly staining his white shirt, but Sooyoung doesn’t care. This was the last time he would be leading these boys and he wasn’t letting anything spoil it, he was too happy for that.

“Now, I’d like for the next captain to share a few words soon, but I’d like to tell you all about this guy and why I made the decision. I feel like I should have asked everyone and have you all vote, but our seniors didn’t do that, so I went to Sehun sunbae and talked to him about it, and then I understood why there isn’t really a voting for the position.” Sooyoung takes a moment before continuing. “And I also understood how I should make my decision, and this little guy is the one I know who can bring out the best of you all, challenge those who are staying in ways I never thought about and improve with everyone.”

“Can you just say who?” Jongwoo calls from his seat. “We kinda are all little guys for you, you freak.”

Everyone laughs, and they are all thankful for Jongwoo’s playful spirit at the moment, they needed a break from all the sentimentalism.

“It’s not you, if that was your doubt.” Joohyun quips, gathering a bit more laughter.

“Well, Kim Doyoung, why don’t you come up here and talk to your team about respecting their seniors?” Sooyoung throws offhandedly. 

Everyone stops a little at that. They all knew Doyoung had a chip on his shoulder about their captain and vice-captain, the boy never really agreed with them since the moment his name was put on the final list. What Sooyoung had learned from the captain before him was that it was important to have people who would follow you, but it was more important to have ones who will challenge you and get you to think in another perspective. The main reason Sooyoung knew right away the answer was Doyoung when he heard that was because the boy never failed to force him out of his comfort zone, out of his perspective and see things with a broader vision. 

They butted heads a lot, but many things Sooyoung changed about their team was thanks to the boy who would never hesitate to question him when he thought Sooyoung wasn’t doing the best for the team. And, honestly, Joohyun was the one to rant about the boy’s attitude, but both captain and vice-captain would always stop and consider the opposing ideas to try and find a new solution to things.

“Well, now THAT is a surprise.” Coach Choi comments. “But it makes the most sense, I’d say.” Then the coach holds a very satisfied grin for the rest of the evening.

Doyoung, still stunned, is pushed to stand and say something. He manages to mumble something, but it’s never really expected for the new captain to actually give a speech, they are always too stunned to actually be capable of coherent sentences. The dinner goes on well into the evening, and the team only leaves because coach Choi demands they head home and sleep.


	70. Mina is nervous

Dahyun had been busy with his submissions for his entry exams, this saturday would be the last piece for the first round of submissions, it was a sculpture and he had just been adding some finishing touches, mostly to quell his nerves, it’s not like the piece wasn’t ready, but he learned through the years, to always leave a few rough edges exactly because he would keep fiddling with it and he had ruined a few pieces before understanding he just had to leave it slightly unfinished for his last week before submission. But, with all these nerves, he had been mostly away from everyone, that’s mostly why he had two pretty ladies visiting him right now.

After Jeju, the younger Bae had kept in touch with Lip and Choerry, they met a few times at the beginning of the school year, but as schoolwork got heavier, they stopped seeing each other as much. Dahyun would send them pictures of his progress on his pieces, and they would answer with piles of books and scattered papers, sometimes with one or the other sleeping over their binders. It was nice, and they were pretty casual about everything, the girls understood and the three liked each other’s company. While lazing around the living room, the doorbell rang and Dahyun complained the entire way to the door.

“Minnie! Comeon in!” The pale boy greets the danseur.

“Hey, Dahyunie.” Mina hugs his friend before moving inside.

“I’m watching tv with the girls, by the way.” Dahyun warns, he knows the japanese hate being surprised with people.

“Girls?”

“Lip and Choerry? Met in Jeju during summer vacation? I’m sure the information got to you already.”

“Oh.” Mina understood who his friend was talking about. “So I’ll get to meet them in person?”

“And you’ll be the first one in the group to. Joohyunnie saw them back then, and Chae and Sana kind of introduced themselves, but they never really talked.” Dahyun offers, knowing the other loved knowing things other people didn’t.

Once they make their way back to the living room, Lip and Choerry part for their live pillow to retake his place between them. Dahyun laughs and shakes his head, missing the fond smile and amused eyes that paint his friend’s face. 

“Girls, this is Myoui Mina. Mina, these are Kim Jungeun and Choi Yerim.” Dahyun introduces.

“You can go for Lip and Choerry.” Choerry says, motioning to the other girl then to herself.

“I’m very pleased to meet you. Dahyun must be ashamed of me, because he has been hiding me from you girls.”

“In his defense, we have all been overwhelmed with our college preparations and Hyunnie has been going almost insane with his pieces.” Lip chimes in.

“I can’t really deny any of that.” The japanese chuckles amusedly. “Anyway, what are you all watching?”

“Before that.” Dahyun interrupts. “Why are you on your own? We all know Nayeonnie doesn’t leave your side if he doesn’t have to.”

“You know us too well.” Mina squints. “He went on some family lunch at his grandparents’ today. He is telling them we are practically married already and that they don’t have a say on him marrying a japanese man.”

“Oh, Minnie.” Dahyun pulls his friend to sit between himself and Lip. “Be a good boy and let us pamper you while you worry.”

Mina doesn’t resist at all, the group spends the morning talking over the bad drama the girls had insisted on, and getting to know these girls, he saw that they clearly cared for his friend, and Dahyun looked happier and more relaxed than he had been at the end of his last relationship. Don’t get him wrong, he loves Jihyo too, but the way the younger Bae had been unhappy, it was clearly better that the relationship ended. These girls, however, seem to be genuinely fond of Dahyun and the way they naturally move around each other, as if in tune with each other’s intentions, makes him hope that his pale friend is better and happy now.

At some point, Seungwan and Joohyun arrived, at the confused look in the older Bae’s face, Dahyun just said ‘Nayeon is dropping the m bomb to his family’ for the other two to understand. Seungwan immediately declares he’s baking cookies and heads to the kitchen, Joohyun looks at his brother telling him to make lunch and pulls the japanese to his lap, intent on pampering Mina as best as he could. It would be comical if it wasn’t so endearing, Joohyun is tiny next to Mina and he completely disappeared once the younger boy was curled up on his lap. Dahyun pulled his ladies to the kitchen so they could whip something up for everyone, really it was just Dahyun and Seugnwan cooking while the girls sat on the breakfast bar and talked to them.

There were some kisses here and there, and Seungwan felt a little pang in his heart for his best friend, especially since the last time the ex couple talked, but he wasn’t irrational to say either should keep insisting on something was dead already. And it was interesting to see Dahyun let himself be shown affection like this, with Jihyo it has always been very subtle, the wrestler never being too comfortable with showing too much intimacy in public, even if said intimacy was just a few pecks and said public was his best friend he had grown up with. 

Lunch was good, one of Mina’s favorites, and Seungwan baked more than enough cookies for all of them to hate themselves once they finished everything. Mr and mrs Bae were out for the weekend in some sort of company retreat mr Bae talked about, neither of the boys paid too much attention as it happened too often. Lip and Choerry would be sleeping over too, they talked and it didn’t make sense for them not to, as it had already happened back then and the three of them had been fine with it. It was at some point in the afternoon that Nayeon messaged his boyfriend, by then, Mina had already fallen asleep, he ate too much and the couch paired with the tension lulled him to a peaceful sleep.

Dahyun noticed the japanese’s phone lit up with his boyfriend’s name, so he took his own and messaged Nayeon that Mina was sleeping, they were together at the Baes’ and the japanese was very nervous earlier, so he didn’t want to wake him up. Nayeon answered that he was going back home and would drop by to pick Mina up later. The group went on with their lazy afternoon, Nayeon showed up early evening, he greeted everyone hurriedly and snatched Mina so they could go and have a nice dinner. It was, all in all, a nice day.


	71. Meet and greet

So, as Dahyun’s first pieces had already been sent, he gave himself a week to rest. Not really because he wanted it, but because the next themes hadn’t been announced yet and it would be pointless to stress over them, so he was resting. Coincidentally, it would be Mina’s last recital on saturday and most everyone was attending, Dahyun decided he would go with his girls and then take them out to a nice dinner after. He heard Jihyo would be there too, and asked the danseur where his ex was sitting so he could take a seat with the girls on the opposite side, and everyone could enjoy the show peacefully.

Everyone knew there could be some altercation at the end when they all gathered to congratulate Mina, but they hoped for the best. Joohyun was thankful that his little brother thought to coordinate seats, they were so used to just being all together that he forgot this had to be a worry now. Not because either were prone to fighting, but Jihyo was still not very accepting of everything, despite their talk, and Dahyun, rightfully, has found other people to put his affections, there should be some discomfort still. But still, it was supposed to be Mina’s night and everyone had to be on their best behaviour, Nayeon made sure of that, he talked to each and every one of them, demanding Mina’s last recital before college was perfect.

It went well, the piece was beautiful and both Choerry and Lip were attending this type of event for the first time, they looked beautiful in their dresses, and it was nice that Dahyun had gone to pick them up so he could help the girls choose their dresses so they didn’t feel too out of place. That gave the girls some extra time to gawk at their date in his cute suit and how his muscles flexed just the right way, needless to say, the girls would absolutely NOT be keeping their hands to themselves tonight. It was decided they would go back to Lip’s house after that, her parents planned a campfire party later on and there were cookies and marshmallows and who was crazy enough to refuse hot chocolate and smores?!

But back to the recital, it went very well and Mina came out holding too many bouquets already, it was his last performance before his entrance exams passed and he might not even return to this company after. Nayeon, the loving little excitement ball he was, came bouncing behind his boyfriend, holding Mina’s bag and with an iron grip on his hand. The boys all congratulated him (Dahyun’s dates too, they liked Mina) and handed him a single rose each, that formed a beautiful arrangement inthe end, it was sort of a tradition they adopted because Mina got too many and mrs Myoui knew flower arrangement, so they started getting one flower each, then hand the woman the silk and the ribbon so she could bring it together after.

Everyone talked for a while, then mr Myoui said the family should head out for their dinner reservation and everyone started leaving. Jihyo left first with Joohyun and Seungwan, followed by Sana and Chaeyoung and Jeong and Tzu. Then Sooyoung said his mother had arrived and Seulgi and Yeri with them, at some point during that, Dahyun called a cab and left with the girls for dinner, they would eat something quickly and then head back to the Kims for a lot of dessert. It would be the first time Dahyun was properly introduced to Lip’s parents, and actually talked to them about something that was not clothes suggestions for their daughter nor doing said daughter’s makeup. He is an artist in more than a few ways.

It would, also be the first time Dahyun ever went through the ‘meet the parents’ thing, he was very nervous, but being in a suit helped him relax a little, he thought he would make a better impression dressing fancy, something both girls told him was stupid and he just had to be himself. Also, because Lip’s father was a detective and had already run a background check on him, Choerry’s dad was a doctor and ran a check on him through other sources, and then both sets of parents exchanged information and decided he was good for their girls. It had been a surprise for them to know both girls were together, and then learn they also had a third party to their relationship and that it was a boy, but the Kims and the Chous had met each other and learned to handle that. 

Now, they were all still to meet Dahyun and then the Bae family, but first things first, and as the pale boy entered the house, he froze instantly, mr Kim was standing in the entrance hall with a young man, likely, Lip’s brother, looking at him with angry faces and very intimidating auras. The girls laughed and guided him to the living room, Lip giving her dad and brother a kiss as she went. Mr Kim sat in one of the armchairs and the older Kim in the other, mrs Kim was barely holding her laughter but felt sorry for the boy regardless. 

“I hear you are dating my daughter.” The man started.

“Ye-yes sir.” Dahyun gulped.

“And why am I only meeting you now? Jungeun said you met during summer.”

“I- I a- I.” The pale boy stammered but couldn’t form a sentence.

“Honey, drop the act.” Mrs Kim decided to take pity and intervene. “It’s nice to properly meet you, Dahyun.”

“It’s my pleasure to meet you all as well, ma’am.” He seemed to relax.

“How about you go up and change so we can eat some pulled pork sandwiches and get that fire going?” The woman offers, her husband clearly not pleased, but didn’t stop her.

“Great idea, mom!” Lip chirps, bringing the boy up with her. “We’ll be down really soon.”

Dahyun lets himself be guided, he mindlessly changed into whatever the girls handed him, a mistake he would only realize too late, and found himself sitting at the kitchen table with a huge sandwich in front of him and not knowing how he got there. For whatever reason, mr and mrs Kim and the older brother were very entertained about something but weren’t saying anything, and the girls seemed normal, so he let it go and just ate what was one of the best snacks/dinners he ever tasted. 

“Dahyun, come and help me with the fire.” Mr Kim said after they all ate.

“Shouldn’t I be helping with the dishes?” 

“Jungeun and Yerim will handle it, now come.” 

There wasn’t any room for arguments, so the boy followed, and he could swear the four who remained inside were snickering. 

“Tell me, son.” Mr Kim starts as they are placing the rocks around the fire basin. “What do you intend to do for college?”

“I’m aiming to take arts, and I’ve been busy with my admittance pieces ever since school started.”

“Pieces? For what?”

“The programs I’m aiming for are very advanced, and they all require me to submit a few pieces for evaluation throughout the year as well as take the entrance exam at the end. So I’ve been working on those.”

“Oh, that’s interesting.” That was information he didn’t manage to find. “And how come you have time now?”

“It’s the period between delivering the first pieces and them releasing the theme and medium for the next ones.”

“I’m guessing you are quite the artist, then?”

“I’ve been working with it all my life. But a quick google search should tell you that.”

“Show me, then.” The man got interested and handed his phone.

“Here, sir.”

Dahyun handed the phone back with the search page filled with articles about him being the ‘child prodigy’ that gathered the talent of all great masters in one little body. To say mr Kim was impressed would be an understatement, he focused more on vices and permanent records, but had foregone the part about simply googling the name to see what would show up. Apparently, the boy could be a young billionaire himself whenever he decided to start selling his best works, and knowing his daughter, theoretically, was going to be well taken care of in the future made his doubts end. 

The rest of the evening was rather nice, they talked, got to know Dahyun, ate until every single one was too sick to move, mrs Kim told them off between groaning in pain herself and then got them all some stomach medicine. It was only when he went to take a shower before bed that Dahyun understood the reason why everyone had been so entertained all evening. In his daze, he just put on whatever was handed to him, which consisted of Lip’s bunny pajamas that were too small and too tight for him. Sure, our boy could rock pink like the king he was, but not hot pink with purple bunnies, it didn’t even make sense, and our boy filled those up to the point of almost bursting the seams. 

Sure Lip could bid the pajamas goodbye, they would never go back to their original size, but if it entertained them, our boy would bite the bullet.


	72. Tzuyu gets an invitation

That both Tzuyu and Jeongyeon had been doing extremely well in their relationship, it’s a known fact, both had talked lengthy about their goals, found a way to manage their college years together and still move in with each other. There was one thing, however, that neither knew of and would shake their boat a little bit. Tzuyu’s grandmother had visited from Taiwan and, being the nosy and reckless woman she was, had gotten a copy of her grandson’s academic records and taken them back with her. Knowing the boy had always dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, she disregarded all protocols for respect for someone else’s life, personal boundaries, the right of personal choice, and whatever other intrusive thing you can come up with.

Grandma Chou had sent her grandson’s records to a few colleges in Taiwan, the top ones, and two that her money had paid for a new hall or something but fell short in their content compared to the other ones. Knowing the last name, all institutions were interested, a fat check would surely follow the admision, but what impressed most was the boy’s commitment to the course. Chou Tzuyu had invested a lot into becoming a veterinarian, he already had enough for all mandatory credits they could request for the first two years and all the internships he had done already put him on top of any other applicant they had seen. It was abnormal that a candidate had put on so much work before even taking the entrance exam.

With that said, all institutions decided to invite the boy to join them once his senior year was through. The first invitation to arrive had been from The Taiwan Provincial Institute of Agriculture, a place the boy knew was one of the best he could attend, but didn’t remember applying to. Tzuyu had been sitting on the living room couch since he got back from the shelter, the envelope was on the hallway cabinet as all mail always is waiting for the owner to pick it up, he had picked up the heavy envelope mindlessly, only registering what it was when he was picking it up after stopping to play with bomb (the cat had showed up and refused to leave, the Chous just rolled with it).

Mr Chou arrived at some point, he got a call from his mother about college in Taiwan and didn’t really understand it, because he was the one to fill the applications with the boys and he was certain Tzuyu never sent anything to their homeland. But seeing his son sitting and looking at the table, he approached and saw the envelope, once the man read where it came from, he understood what his mother was talking about. It was unbelievable how his mother had learned nothing about backing off and allowing everyone to decide for themselves without her hand in everything.

“I feared this was what she was talking about.” The man huffs as he takes a seat.

“You know anything about this, dad?” Tzuyu asks, leaning against his father, he needed comfort.

“Your grandmother called me this afternoon, saying something about college and Taiwan, which I didn’t understand then.” The man tightens his hold and sighs before continuing. “I hate when she meddles like this, and I hate it even more that she did it to you.”

“It’s alright, dad. And it’s not like I have to accept any of it.” The boy whimpered, trying very hard not to cry.

“Look, son. Your mother and I love you very much, and we are behind everything you decide to do in your life…. Well, as long as you don’t get yourself arrested, then you are on your own.”

The small chuckle that left Tzuyu was enough for his father to feel more relieved.

“The thing is, dad, this college right here is one of the best there is. And despite not considering it before, now that I’m being invited to join, I kind of want to consider it.”

“Well, that’s up to you, really. Your mom and I will support you no matter your decision. But there is someone else you should discuss this with, right?!”

As if on cue, Bomb jumps on the couch, demanding those two useless humans to pet him until he decides it’s enough. Tzuyu didn’t need to say anything, and mr Chou didn’t expect an answer, but he started thinking about Jeongyeon and how they had pretty much already decided their future together, only for this one letter to make everything not make sense anymore. Yeah, they should really talk. The boy decided he needed a shower and left his father trapped under the cat, once Tzuyu was in his pajamas, he felt much better. 

Checking his emails, Tzuyu saw the virtual version of the physical package that was left on the coffee table downstairs, and sent a text to Jeongyeon, asking him if he could come over for a sleep over the next day. Jeongyeon agreed easily, it would be a friday and neither had anything to do the following day, not to mention, it had been a while since they last spent time alone together, lately had been filled with studying, working and talking to their families about what to do starting next year. 

When Jeongyeon arrived, he was happy to spend some alone time with his love, had a bounce on his step and a smile on his lips. He kissed Tzuyu and hugged him tight, before Butter started scratching his leg to be petted, Kaya was always the calmer one and just sat closeby and waited for her turn. Mr and mrs Chou also grabbed the older boy in tight hugs, though their eyes said something Jeongyeon couldn’t understand yet. Dinner was as always, though there was a slight tension the smaller boy could catch in the air, lingering just beneath the surface. Mrs Chou, knowing exactly how to help as always, suggested they moved to the living room for hot chocolate.

“Tzu, you have to speak up.” Mrs Chou eggs her son.

“I know, mom. I’m jus-”

“What’s wrong, love?” Jeongyeon fusses worriedly. “Are you hurt? Did I do something wrong? Are you breaking up with me? Please don’t break up with me, I can change!”

“Calm down, Jeong.” Tzuyu sighs, now he has to talk, thanks mom. “I’m not breaking up with you. You did absolutely nothing wrong and I love you very much, now breathe a little.”

“You sure?” The older boy asks with teary eyes.

“I promise.” The taller one hugs his boyfriend. “It’s just, remember when grandma came to visit?”

“Grandma Chou? I know for sure she hates me.”

“My mother is very difficult, I know.” Mr Chou pats the boys’ heads as he returns with more hot chocolate. “But she doesn’t hate you. She just likes to torture people for fun.”

There is a collective chuckle and mr Chou is happy that he could lighten the mood.

“Well, looks like she got a hold of my school records and sent them to colleges in Taiwan.”

“And you got in.” Jeongyeon completes defeatedly, already untangling himself from his boyfriend.

“And I got in.” Tzuyu confirms, weary of what the other boy would do now.

“And you want to go there.” The older boy is already at the edge of the sofa, refusing to look at anyone.

“It’s one of the world’s most renowned veterinary schools, and it would be great to attend.”

“That’s grand, Tzu. I’m happy you can get the best for your future.” Jeongyeon fires rapidly. “You have to take the opportunity. Like you said yourself, it will be the best for your future.”

“Jeong, talk to us, please?” Mrs Chou tries, she knew the boy was about to snap.

“I am, ma’am.” Oh, this was serious. “Like I said, you must accept. I’m very happy for you. Now, ma’am, sir, Tzuyu, I should head home for the evening.”

Everything happens too fast, Jeongyeon jumps up from where he was seated, bows to them and disappears into the entrance hall. You see, when Jeongyeon has a problem, he gets extremely polite and impersonal, the moment he heard the news, he started talking like it was the first time meeting them all, when ‘ma’am’ came out of his lips, the Chous knew he wasn’t alright at all. The youngest Yoo never lashed out, he would get quiet, agree with whatever was being said and be extremely polite, both in his speech and his actions. Tzuyu knew his boyfriend would take this hard but didn’t account to what he could do, mr and mrs Chou wanted the best for their son, like any parent would, but they also knew how much Jeongyeon loved Tzuyu and how the future he was already working hard to provide for them crumbled with this.

Jeongyeon left and walked aimlessly, he allowed his feet to take him wherever they wanted to go. When the boy came to, he found himself in the place he always went to when he needed time alone, growing up with two older sisters, being the only boy even among his cousins, he grew up much more sensible than society would deem appropriate for a boy, so instead of acting out like any other child, he shuts in and avoids speaking up. Sometime during middle school, he walked by a small trail, being bored and knowing he was going to be home alone, he decided to follow it, ending up in a small observation deck that looked over a small creek. He was amazed at the sight and decided it would be his secret place.

To this day, nobody knows Jeongyeon comes here whenever he needs time to himself. He only noticed his phone was blowing up after sitting down on his favorite bench and taking a look around. For now, only the Chous were trying to reach him, they probably didn’t contact his family yet, once his sisters got wind of him disappearing things could get a bit more worrisome, so he just mutes his phone and takes some time to think. Jeongyeon is happy Tzuyu got accepted into a great institution, he really is, but he was also excited for the near future with his boyfriend, he had even saved enough for the engagement ring.

The youngest Yoo had been thinking of proposing on the day they moved in together, despite not needing to work at all, Jeongyeon had been taking part time jobs so he could save for an apartment for the two of them once they begin college, and he had been taking extra shifts because he wanted to get a ring and take a next step in their relationship along with the new stage in their lives. But now, Jeongyeon is rethinking if he should say anything at all, what was the point, there might not even be a relationship soon anymore.

Crowning in those thoughts, Jeongyeon ended up spending much more time tuning out the world than he really noticed.


End file.
